Ultra Pedestrian Wilderness Challenge – Chinook Pass Loop (32 miles) – 2019

“I am not throwing away my shot.” Step, step. “ I’m just like my country, young, scrappy and hungry, and I’m not throwing away my shot.” Step, step. Singing along loudly to the soundtrack of Hamilton is a totally normal bear deterrent, right? My friend, Sarah, and I had been on the trail for only a half-hour before we spotted a mama bear and cub breakfasting on berries in the morning fog.

I first ran this Ultra Pedestrian route back in 2015. It’s nestled on the southeast side of Mount Rainier, and I really like how it breaks out nicely into three, easy-to-navigate sections. Start at Chinook Pass, go south on the Pacific Crest Trail for about 11.4 miles, then turn west on Laughingwater Creek for 9.4 miles until you head north on the Eastside Trail for another 12 miles. There is only one spot where the trail is tricky to find after crossing a road, but since I already knew that from previous experience, it was easy to locate. 

It had been a rather sleepless night in the car due to an unexpected visitor – a mouse. Who insisted on scampering all over the car and keeping us awake. In the morning we discovered it had nibbled on my baggy of Goldfish crackers and chewed two holes in my running pack to get to my Oreos. RUDE. This, plus the chilly fog, was an uninspiring start to the day. However, once the sun began to slowly burn away the fog, we were excited for our long day.

After encountering the bear just a mile and a half into our run, we decided music was in order instead of shouting “Hey bear!” every minute. Singing along to Hamilton was also a fun way to fully wake us up – I highly recommend it. After another few miles, we began to meet PCT thru-hikers and stopped to have brief chats with a few of them. While the view wasn’t ever clear enough for us to see the peaks in the distance, we still enjoyed the dew-kissed wildflowers and the winding trail. 

When we made the turnoff on Laughingwater Creek, I was excited because I remember really loving this section of the trail. It’s a steady (but reasonable) downhill and runnable trail. It’s under tree cover basically the whole time, and you pass by a few lakes. We only met one other hiker on this trail, so we took turns hollering loudly to alert any wildlife of our presence. A theme of the day, apparently.

The prettiest part of the trail is on the west end. It’s fairly green throughout, but all of a sudden it looks ridiculously saturated and magical. The ground is carpeted with moss and the trail is swoopy and inviting. I expected fairies to pop out from the delicate ferns at any moment.

Then we crossed a road, and were suddenly surrounded by day hikers and visitors admiring Silver Falls. We got a few strange looks that clearly indicated we were the odd ones out there. Evidently two sweat-and-dust-covered women with water filters, trekking poles, and packs full of junk food was remarkable, and I can’t exactly argue.

Anyway, we needed to refill our hydration packs, and past experience has taught me that filtering water from the falls is tastier than filling up at the drinking fountain nearby. The water is a stunning teal blue and we really just wanted to dangle our feet in the water and rest after 20 miles, but alas, it was not to be. The hardest bit was yet to come.

After our refill, a solid snack, and a reapplication of sunscreen (how adult are we?), we headed up the Eastside Trail. We were ready to finish this section strong. This trail is surrounded by forest, with no mountain views to speak of. But it features loads of mushrooms, giant trees, and waterfalls along the way. I turned on some trashy pop music for us to sing along and arm dance to while we ran, and it helped in keeping our energy up. I wondered, why did I dislike this section so much the first time I ran Chinook Pass? We were absolutely crushing it. Well, I was about to be reminded.

We arrived at Deer Camp and determined that we had less than 5 miles to the finish – yahoo! However, we still had quite a bit of elevation to gain, and the trail quickly veered upwards. Who needs switchbacks anyway? We pulled out our poles to help with the steepness (and the crazy amount of spiderwebs.) There are no views in this section, and it’s just steep forest, so we’d long since stopped taking any photos. We met no one on this trail so we kept up our shouts of “woo-WOO!” and scared one poor elk who I’m sure was having a lovely afternoon before us yahoos showed up.

We crossed Highway 123 (the tricky road crossing) and we knew we had less than 2 miles to go. But oof, what a gnarly two miles. At one point we could see the switchbacking road well above us, through the trees, which was a little disheartening. We still needed to get to the top of that in a short distance. There was nothing to do but slog our way upwards, and wish for a funicular… gondola lift…burro…anything.

But no trail lasts forever, and we finally made it to the top. There were a bunch of regular people getting in and out of their cars, and having a normal Saturday that did not include running 32 miles all day. Contact with civilization after a long day on the trail never ceases to be jarring.

Just after we finished our route, we saw a group of people to our left who had set up tables with food and drinks. I joked, “Is that an aid station just for us??” They responded, “It’s Trail Magic for PCT thru-hikers!” It was so cool to see Trail Magic in person (I’m fascinated by long trails and the people that hike them.) They said to us, “You can’t be thru-hikers, your packs are too small and you don’t smell bad enough!” I sniffed my shirt, “I don’t know, man. I don’t smell good.” They kindly offered us snacks, a beer, and Gatorade, which we gratefully accepted. Another adventure in the books.

What did I learn?

-Use odor-proof bags for food at a trailhead. I’ve been parking at trailheads for years, with food in a bag in my car, and had zero problems. But the “mouse incident” has taught me that it was just luck I hadn’t been harassed by rodents! I learned from other friends that they’ve had mice get into their cars, steal food, and shred napkins, wires, and generally wreak expensive havoc in a car. So I’ll be utilizing odor-proof bags for trail food in my car in the future.

-I would change the starting place of this route. Now having done this route twice in the same way, I have to say it really sucks to have that brutal climb back up to Chinook Pass at the end! If it’s a really hot day, it’s nice to get the exposed PCT section done early. However, both times I’ve done it, it’s been cloudy and foggy. I ended up missing the views both times! I would still go clockwise, but start at Silver Falls, head up the Eastside Trail and get all that vert done first. It would leave the PCT for midday and Laughingwater Creek for a nice downhill trot back to the end.

-Music really helps me get into a groove of running. In the past, when I ran road marathons, I always ran with music. But ever since getting into trail running, I rarely use music because I’m usually with people. Also, it’s best that you’re listening to what’s going on around you in the wilderness. (a.ka. listening for bears, weird people, etc.) But I have to say that listening to music really does a great job of getting me out of low points and keeps me moving during motivational crises.

I really enjoyed revisiting this route from four years ago. I’ve grown as an athlete, but I still appreciate the flowers, moss, and mountains and lament the occasional lack of switchbacks. I can’t wait to explore new (and old) trails next summer!