Indian Bar

Directions:

Trail notes: This hike starts off with a quick uphill and then levels out for about a half hour en route to Nickel Creek camp. If you look closely as you begin the hike you will notice the remnants of the older, steeper trail. Also worth noting are a couple cliffs the trail nicely avoids. The trip to Nickel Creek is a nice walk through second growth trees.

From Nickel creek the trail increases in steepness though quite a bit less than I had thought it would. The trail is through old growth fir stands and mushrooms abound almost the whole way up. The switchbacks which gain the ridge are quite kind, and I was able to make the ridge in a little over an hour.

Almost immediately after cresting the ridge you will come across a trail junction which leads to Olallie creek. Continuing on you might think the kind demeanor of the switch back would continue - you'd be wrong. Though the traverse section does have some level areas they are fleeting, however there are a number of humps the trail makes its way over which I estimate collectively as hiked added one thousand feet. From lowest to highest point there is a gain of 2800 ft. I will tell you this hike feels like more elevation than it is. Perhaps my rush to make up for my late arrival could be a source of my thoughts about the elevation - I did make quite good time.

The traverse section after about a half hour offers the first un-obstructed view of Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams (actually Mt. Adams is first). The views are very nice, but wait they only get better. So make your way across the traverse, still don't know why the trail builders just didn't work a contour, seem they wanted to give the alpine meadows their due.

Ultimately about three hours in you will spy the high point at 5930. I wound up arriving here at about 2:30. After enjoying the spot I just had to continue on, at least to the overlook of Indian bar. This involves the steepest decent of the hike and takes about 20-30 minutes to work your way across the ridge and over a saddle with a nice view down into Indian Bar.

I thought about continuing on, but really was content with where I stood, knowing that if I was to make it to Indian Bar camp it was going to be headlamp time. And really there was no better view of Indian Bar than from where I was. Also of note from the high spot you can see the trail leading over Pan Handle Gap, so if you are doing this as a straight through you can see what lies ahead. I think this hike would make a very nice through hike and could be done in one long day, but you would be well advised to bring a headlamp and leave Indian Bar by 7am or so.

So all things said and done I would say Indian Bar is an excellent hike, though more difficult than it looks. Also I would advise if you are going to make the run for Indian Bar camp to leave parking lot no later than 9am, unless you are going to headlamp it out.