Overnight two of our group decided to throw in the towel. It was quite surprising as one had done the entire Wonderland Trail the year before and the other had many years of hiking and climbing under her belt. Not sure the whole story but it is a difficult undertaking – not to be underestimated! We did hear that last year there were only two individuals signed up and one quit after Day 2. HMMM. Zach hiked back with the two to a trailhead about a mile before the Nickle Creek Camp, called the office, waited a couple hours for the hikers to be retrieved and then caught back up to us later in the day – long day for him!

Today James lead the hike from the Nickle Creek Campground to Indian Bar Campground. It was the shortest of the entire trip at 6.7 miles but steep – over 3,000′ of elevation. It was nice to take it a bit slower and arrive in camp before the sun went down. The trip took us up several ridges which gave us great views of Mt. Rainier. The clouds started rolling in off and on so we suspected that the forecast for rain the next day might hold true.

Once we made it down to Indian Bar, some of the group set up inside the permanent shelter with Steve 2 being the bravest one, just laying his sleeping bag on the wooden bunk. A couple of us chose to sleep outside as the “m” word was mentioned more than once. Mouse, that is … I have never been a fan of “cowboy” camping as I always imagine mice running back and forth over my face while I sleep – no thank you!

Dinner was custom-made, personal pan pizzas using Bob oli crusts. YUM!