Devil's Dream on the Wonderland Trail

Introduction

It's been the year of one-night backpacking trips. Starting with Cape Alava on the coast in April, then Mount Margaret in the middle of August, and finally, another trip to the Wonderland Trail at the end of August.

This post is about the last of the three one-nighters: Devil's Dream on the southwest corner of Mount Rainier.

We were blessed with incredible weather for the hike in, including a secondary excursion up to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and Mirror Lakes. The following day, we hiked out in some fog and partly cloudy weather, making us even more appreciative of the weather the previous day.

The Wonderland is a magical place, and I'm lucky that I have had the opportunity to backpack on it on three separate occasions. This trip did not disappoint, and like the two other times that I've been on the trail, Mount Rainier offered scenery that is hard to compare to any other part of this country.

Overview

• One night (Aug 29-30, 2021)
• Total Mileage: ~16.5 miles
• Trailhead: Longmire WIC (National Park Pass)
• Permits/Fees: Mount Rainier National Park Wilderness Permit cost: $26
• Camps: Devil's Dream

Day 1

We had a blue-bird morning driving down to Mount Rainier National Park. Our hike started in the parking lot across the street from the Longmire Wilderness Information Center. I stopped in at the WIC to pick up my permit and gather some information from the rangers.

They were friendly and answered my questions:

• Parking across the street by the bathrooms was OK.
• The trail starts just outside the WIC, not down the road across from the lodge. That's the Rampart Ridge trail.
• We planned to stop around Pyramid Creek for a rest, so I asked about the water source at the camp. The ranger told me a pool across Pyramid Creek (on the west side) has clear flowing water.
• The water source just south of Devil's Dream camp was dry. So, we could filter at a few streams south of camp on the trail OR go up to Squaw Lakes and beyond (more on this later).

It was a Sunday morning and later in the season. Therefore, we snagged a nice parking spot and enjoyed a quiet and uncrowded day on the trail.

The Hike

The trail starts at a gradual incline, with boardwalks, large trees, and a well-maintained trail. After the trail crosses the highway, it starts to climb up Rampart Ridge and doesn't stop climbing for another mile to a mile and a half.

On the flip side, it's pretty steep, and we all had a good sweat going. We stopped for a few breaks on the way up.

After going over the ridge, there's a descent of a few hundred feet down to Kautz Creek. On a clear day, you'll walk straight into a gorgeous view of Rainier.

It's been a scorching summer. The lack of snow adds to the peculiar view of the mountain from the southwest.

Dropping down to the Pyramid/Kautz Creek valley floor, you come across clear water streams, smaller boulders, and different shrubbery. We decided to take an extended break at Kautz Creek. It would have been a nice place to filter some water, but we weren't in need.

This area has a destructive history. The tremendous forces of glacier runoff and rain, combined with the valley's narrow walls, have caused the Pyramid Creek camp (just west of our break spot) to be rebuilt or repaired many times.

You'll have to follow the cairns to get through the rocky sections.

I didn't even notice the sign for Pyramid Creek Camp as we hiked by. It's in the wooded area between Kautz and Pyramid Creek. Relatively small, featuring a few sites and a pit toilet.

On the other hand, you can't miss Pyramid Creek. It runs strong and silty from the glacier runoff and is crossed by a log footbridge. There's evidence that the rangers have had to replace it more than once!

After Pyramid Creek, we began the second climb of the day. This one felt steeper and more difficult than the first. Again, good trail and plenty of shade, but it was uphill until we got to camp.

There's a clear creek named Fisher's Hornpipe halfway up the second climb to Devil's Dream, where we stopped for a break. Also, on the return journey, we filtered water hear after leaving camp. There were a few streams to filter from south of Devil's Dream on the trail that still held water late in the season, but this one appeared never to go dry.

Crossing the bridge at Fisher's Hornpipe

Not long after crossing the river, my uncle stopped and identified some huckleberries that we snacked on. Additionally, we stopped to talk to a ranger that had just descended from the patrol cabin at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. It was a nice chat, and he informed us about water again.

We arrived at the Devil's Dream group site at around 2:30 p.m. The hike had taken us just short of four hours.

Devil's Dream

Devil's Dream has seven individual sites and one group site. It also has a very impressive backcountry pit toilet (probably the nicest I've seen!).

The backcountry camp sits at around 5,000 ft. elevation on a slope in the trees. Some sites are more desirable than others—lIke any camp on the Wonderland Trail.

The group site is the furthest up the slope and has a bear pole across the trail. There's enough space to fit five tents if you have a big group, and maybe seven if you had to.

Furthermore, the group site is the most desirable—in my opinion—and that's often the case with most backcountry camps.

Taken the morning of the second day from the trail.

It was later in the season, and Devil's Dream is around 5,000 ft elevation, so that night got pretty cold. More specifically, it dropped down to the low 40s high 30s.

As a final note, before I get to the real perks of Devil's Dream and the water situation, the bugs were not bad at all! We hardly noticed them. Possibly, this is due to the lack of water in the camp.

Water

There was no water in camp. We received recommendations from rangers to filter either before camp or at a location past camp.

I ran out of water when we arrived at camp and decided to filter at Squaw Lakes. The lakes are half a mile past the camp, AND they are on the way to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, which is a great afternoon hike.

One of the Squaw Lakes

Arriving at the second Squaw Lake (because the first was dry), we immediately noticed three backpacks sitting on the ground without owners.

After examining the lake, I decided to wait and filter more water until further up the trail because the second Squaw Lake was stagnant and full of algae.

As we walked up the trail, I heard running water and found the three backpackers that owned the abandoned packs! They were waiting to filter water at Squaw Lake but turned around and filtered from a small creek that was still flowing just a couple tenths of a mile northwest of Squaws Lakes on the trail.

However, I still waited to filter water. So, we went up to Mirror Lakes and found plenty of clear streams to filter from on the Mirror Lakes offshoot trail.

Clear stream on the Mirror Lakes trail that provided cold and clear flowing water.

We brought enough water back to camp that evening to last the night and morning. Then, we filtered at Fisher's Hornpipe on the way out.

Indian Henry's Hunting Ground

Indian Henry's Hunting Ground is a mile up the trail from Devil's Dream Camp.

"Indian Henrys Hunting Ground itself comes with its own stories. Two pioneer explorers are said to have first encountered a friendly Native American man in 1862 near Mount Rainier. When the pioneers, James Packwood and Henry Windsor, asked the man his name, they recall it sounding like “Sotolick.” Since that name was too difficult to articulate, they decided to rename him Indian Henry, and from there, legend was born. The jury is out on whether Sotolick was in fact his real name, though Satulick Mountain is a phonetic variation of it. History has it that Indian Henry had recently had contact with Jesuit missionaries, and he may have misunderstood the pioneers when they asked his name. Instead, he may have been trying to say the word “Catholic,” imparting a religion."

Tami Asars, Hiking the Wonderland Trail

The gem of this backpacking trip is Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and Mirror Lakes. It was always in the plans to get up to Devil's Dream with enough time to go further up to the mountain meadows and lake along the trail.

The south and southwest part of the trail is beautiful and has the most history than any other part.

In 1883 both Henry and Longmire accompanied P.B Van Trump, George Bayley, and William C. Ewing on a summit attempt. Henry agreed, for two dollars a day, to guide the group to the highest point that could be reached by horses above the snowline. They camped the fourth night on the banks of the Nisqually River near “soda and iron springs of great variety.” From there Henry cut a zigzag trail up a timbered ridge to 5800 ft. Henry refused to go farther, but his companions continued past the base camp, and three of them, including Longmire, reached the summit, where they spent a cold night in the crater.

For Longmire, the discovery of springs proved more important than reaching the summit. He filed a claim on land at the springs and built a camp for mountain climbers, which featured restorative baths. Soon there was a well-worn trail from Yelm, with stops at Indian Henry’s, Karnahan’s Ranch, and Longmire’s Springs before reaching Paradise and the ascent to the top. John Muir stayed at Henry’s barn in 1888 on his way to the top. Yelm schoolteacher Fay Fuller, the first woman to climb Rainier, stopped at Henry’s two years later. In 1891 the first recorded ascent of Rainier by way of the Tahoma Glacier began at Henry’s meadow.

Judy Bentley & Craig Romano, Hiking Washington’s History Second Edition

The meadows were green, tree-lined, and baked in the sun upon our arrival. Also, in the hunting ground is the Indian Henry Patrol Cabin, built in 1915.

Copper and Iron Mountains in the distance.

We had heard from a few people about how picturesque the mountain was from Indian Henry's at sunset. We didn't stay until sundown because we wanted to get back to camp to eat after a long day, but we hung out and drank in the green meadow, warm sun, and crisp views of Mount Rainier.

I'm getting ahead of myself because before we hung out on the porch, enjoying the evening sun at Indian Henry's, we hiked up the Mirror Lakes!

“The view from these small lakes was used on the three-cent Mount Rainier stamp in the US Postal Service’s 1934-1935 national park series."

Judy Bentley & Craig Romano, Hiking Washington’s History Second Edition

The MIrror Lakes trail isn't long and is well-traveled. It shoots north toward the mountain just west of the trail to the Indian Henry Patrol Cabin.

It was well worth the trip and served as the crowning achievement of our day on the trail. We hiked ~0.7 miles up the first lake (which was dry) through more meadows and subalpine vegetation.

The incline to the lakes is almost negligible. We crossed a few clear streams. On the way back, we would filter water at one of these clear streams.

As we came to the largest of the lakes, our dreams came true. And, our faces stretched into smiles as Mount Rainier reflected off the lake in front of us.

My uncle fooled us when he took a picture on his phone and showed it to us upside down before amazing us by turning the picture right side up!

He also found a picture of the stamp the day after we got back from the hike, which was fun to compare to our photos from the trip!

The maintained part of the trail ends at the end of the lakes, but you can follow the unmaintained trail up to the top of Pyramid Peak.

Loud Noises

The sound of Mount Rainier's rivers and waterfalls echo off its massive structure and out from its deep valleys. This makes a noticeable background sound heard from Mirror Lakes.

Even more noticeable was the crashing of boulders and dust clouds falling off the high face of the mountain! We witnessed a few huge rock slides peeling off the cliffs and crashing down the rocky bumpers of the mountainside, stopping at the glaciers below.

It was slightly frightening watching a large rock slide making a loud noise kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

After taking in the views and watching the incredible power of the mountain kick rocks down its slopes, we hiked back to filter water and view the mountain from the quiet meadows of Indian Henry's.

On the way out of the meadows, we encountered this healthy deer, unaware this area was prime hunting grounds at a different time. Lucky for the deer, it's now a protected and rich feeding area.

The night was quiet, and the camp grew dark rapidly once the sun went down. The surrounding trees helped contribute to the darkness. I slept well and was up early for a cup of coffee the next day.

Day 2

By the early morning, the temperature had dropped, but we were prepared. Still, I was excited to hold a cup of coffee in the morning to help warm my hands.

I believe we hit the trail, heading back to Longmire around 9:00 a.m. The early morning was clear, but soon a damp mist sat low on the trees. This kept us cool. Unfortunately, it would impede our views later.

I was out of the water, so we stopped to filter at Fisher's Hornpipe. Then, like the day before, we had a bite to eat by Kautz Creek before climbing up to the crest of Rampart Ridge.

The top of Rampart Ridge presents a trail junction with signs listing the mileage for a few points of interest. One hiker on the trail was headed north to Mildred Point with an expensive-looking camera on his shoulder strap. We could have continued our hike east (returning the same way we came) but opted to walk south along the ridge and drop down above the Trail of Shadows.

Hiking along Rampart Ridge is a popular day hike for visitors to Longmire (so I've read), and we thought we might get a few unique views.

You can spot a very small part of Mount Rainier if you look at the top of the right of the above picture above the clouds. On a clear day, you can imagine that this view is impressive. The detour added some mileage but was different than walking back along the same trail as before. Furthermore, there's the view looking across the valley above Longmire.

Deer on the trail hiking down from Rampart Ridge

Despite the extra mileage, the trail exits across the street from the Hotel, a very similar spot to where you start the hike by the WIC.

Given the mileage, amount of nights, and campsite, it's difficult to say what we would have done differently about this trip. Above all, we were thankful for a safe trip and the beautiful weather on day one!

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