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Published: August 7th 2007
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Mt. Rainier
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I love how the clouds came down to hug the summit of Rainier We didn’t expect to hike in the snow in early June, but that’s exactly what we found ourselves doing. The Paradise area of Mt. Rainier is billed in the travel books as an expansive meadow of wildflowers during the summer. But summer on Mt. Rainier starts late, and the flowers are really in bloom in July and August. In June, at least this June, Paradise is still covered in snow. Of course, we didn’t figure that out until just before we took our first steps up the “trail.”
We started that morning in Seattle, which is about 95 miles from Mt. Rainier. We stopped at a grocery for some hiking supplies and headed out. We crossed into the Park just after noon and started making our way up the mountain. First we passed Longmire, a jumping off point for many trails and the location of our lodgings for the night, the National Park Inn. Making our way on up the mountain, we started noticing some snow beside the road. And then some more snow. And then all snow. Still, for some reason it didn’t dawn on us that we would be hiking in snow. I just figured the trail
itself
would be cleared even if there was snow all around it.
After missing the correct parking area once we looped around five miles or so and parked. Cars were plentiful and close parking scarce, surely and indication that the trails were in good condition. We stopped by the information building to get some water and use the restroom. While Rachel was filling up her bottle I wandered over to a big trail map. That was when I started to worry. It said things like “marked with flags in the snow” and “not marked, only very experienced hikers.” Hmmm. That didn’t sound too good to me.
Meanwhile, Rachel talked to the lady at the information desk. Rachel related that the information lady had said that all the trails were under snow, and that only half of the trail we were planning to hike, the Skyline Trail, was actually marked, so we should just go up to Panorama Point and back, not make the full loop. Also, “we would be just fine” with our boots. I was a bit skeptical, I’ll admit, but after coming this far, what the heck.
After about a quarter mile all of the tourists
whose cars were in the parking lot were nowhere to be seen. We encountered the last of the obvious tourists we saw maybe another quarter mile up, a man and his young son who were coming back down the trail. Now, I was seriously struggling at this point, and seeing a six year old not only up this high, but coming down from somewhere higher made me feel pretty much like a wimp. Then the poor boy just quit walking, sat down on the snow, and started crying. I felt better---I wasn't to that point yet! Still, I thought there was about a 50-50 chance that would be me on the way back down.
Hiking in the snow is hard. I don’t know whether hiking in wet and slick June snow that is melting on a 70 degree day is harder than hiking on snow in mid-winter, but it was plenty hard enough. We were at least ankle deep with every step. And the trail we were on is straight up the side of the mountain with no switchbacks to ease the climb. It was also hard to follow the little flags stuck in the snow in some places.
But it was worth it.
The only folks we saw after the crying boy had, you know, come prepared to hike in the snow. And many of them had brought skis for the return down the mountain. We headed up and found a couple of nice flat rocks by a tree and had our lunch. Then we continued on, taking the amazing photos you see all the way up. We didn’t make it all the way to Panorama Point, our goal, because I stepped through melting snow and went in thigh-high twice in about three minutes and decided that I was ready to turn around. We could see Panorama Point in the distance, although we weren’t sure of it at the time, but we had seen enough of the mountain views to last us already. Still, the mile and a quarter or so we hiked took us a couple of hours and wore us out.
It was just about 4:00, which was our check-in time at the National Park Inn, so we headed back down the mountain. The Inn is a really nice facility, and it’s the only place to stay in the park itself that is open
year round. We took the cheap route and got a room with a shared bath. The room was clean and nice and we didn’t have to wait any to shower in the shared bath. They also have a decent restaurant. The buffalo meatloaf was good, anyway.
After dinner and a rest, we decided to walk the “Trail of Shadows,” an interpretive trail less than a mile long right next to the Inn. It was a neat little trail, with no elevation gain and plenty of signs to explain the history of the area and the different vegetation along the trail. It was a nice way to wrap up the day. Back at the lodge, we realized that the combination of a clear 70 degree day, white snow reflecting the sun, and lack of proper preparation had turned into beet red sunburns for the both of us. Sunscreen and Aloe Vera were added to the shopping list for tomorrow, and we turned in early to get ready for our next hike on Mt. Rainier.
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