The climb was long and hot as we got up above the trees. Halfway through the climb, we stopped at the Dick Creek camp for lunch. It was a small campsite right on the edge of a cliff. Rumor has it that a mountain lion was sighted nearby a few days before we were there. The lunch provided some shade and a much needed break.

We continued up towards Mystic Lake and after what felt like an eternity, we made it to Moraine Park. It’s a beautiful open meadow with huge views of Mt. Rainier. It made the climb worth it. At that point we thought we were done climbing and just had a small descent to the lake. We were wrong.

After crossing the meadow, we had the unfortunate surprise of one more sharp steep climb. It felt like a punch in the face after what was already our hardest day. That wasn’t the end of it for fun surprises on the trail though. We finally made it to the lake before getting our last surprise. The camp was 0.2 miles past the lake. As I expressed my exasperation at this, someone coming up the trail shouted out “And it’s a HARD 0.2 miles!” That person was right, the camp was down a steep hill.

We ran down hoping to get a good campsite before heading back to hang out and cook at the lake. We set up camp and I packed my bag full of everything we’d need for a few hours at the lake. We swam some more in a very shallow lake. About 100 yards out into the lake it was still only waist deep.

As we were cooking dinner, a ranger came by and invited us to his cabin to watch the sunset. The cabin had a view of Mt. Rainier while the lake’s view was blocked by Mineral Mountain. We walked the quarter mile (away from camp) to the cabin and sat on the porch with the ranger and two other park employees to watch the sunset. We got there just as the colors on the mountain turned beautiful. We listened to stories from the ranger and then walked back to our tent in the dark.

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