Sunday, Sept. 5

Yesterday's distance covered: 11 miles.

Last night's campsite: Ipsut Creek campground (2,350 feet).

Yesterday's weather: Overcast in the morning, partly sunny by afternoon.

Today's wake-up weather: Mostly cloudy; 46 degrees.

Happenings: Climbing to Mystic Lake yesterday, I met one of the park's few remaining backcountry rangers, 35-year-old JoAnne Germano. This is her 13th summer at Rainier, her fifth as the person who staffs the small, two-bunk cabin north of Mystic Lake. Roger Healey, 32, is a volunteer who also is putting in a lot of time at Mystic this summer. A native New Yorker with a degree in environmental studies, Germano loves to teach, and this fall she begins her first full-time teaching position as a special education instructor at Alternative School No. 1 in the Pinehurst-Northgate area. She'll be at Mystic Lake on weekends through mid-October.

"Up here," she said, "I like to teach people how to enjoy the area while leaving it as un-impacted as possible. The public has gotten much better at staying on trails and not trampling the vegetation, which is so fragile up here. I still worry about the area, though. I treat it like a mother hen." Germano, who can walk 10 to 15 miles in a routine day, three years ago unknowingly stepped into a mass of glacial till at the base of Winthrop Glacier. This till is a strange concoction that behaves like quicksand, and Germano sank in up to her chest. "I'm a major swimmer, and somehow I reached a tree that was behind me. I got out after several minutes, but I was in shock. Quicksand is not some Hollywood myth."

I had no trouble crossing Winthrop Glacier on a skinny footbridge above the churning waters spilling from it. Though I had plans to spend the night at Mystic Lake, forecasts of rain for Sunday motivated me to push on into lovely Moraine Park, enjoying views of the Mountain, half-hidden by swirling white clouds. I even bumped into a day hiker who said he's been following my daily reports on the Web. I marvel at the purplish tint of the Carbon Glacier, the lowest glacier (in elevation) found in the continental United States. Later, the walk along the Carbon River passes through a dense, old-growth forest filled with Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, red cedar and the farthest-inland Sitka spruce in the U.S.

Nice view: The vertical spectacle of north-facing 3,600-foot Willis Wall, as seen from the porch of the Mystic Lake ranger station. It is recognized as the toughest climbing route (out of at least 47) on Mount Rainier.

Last night's dinner: Turkey tetrazzini by Mountain House ($6.25). Quite good.

Distance still to travel: 40 miles.

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