On Saturday, June 19 we drove to Paradise at Mt. Rainier National Park. A few days before the hike we were constantly checking the forecast via this site, which provides weather for Longmire, Paradise, Muir and the summit: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/data/rainier_report.html. The forecast called for rain and possible thunderstorms. We were a bit nervous so we called the staff at Feathered Friends, which is where we rented our plastic boots. After chatting a while, we decided to go for it and see what happened.
We left around 5:30 a.m. and arrived at the Paradise parking lot at 8 a.m. We stopped at the Climbing Information Center and talked to two park rangers who gave us a map with way points as well as a few tips about hiking up the Muir Snowfield in rainy/foggy weather. Then we put on our boots and 25 lb. packs and started up the trail.
The Muir Snowfield is the most popular route up the mountain, so we saw at least 100 people going up and down during the day. Some people refer to it as a "highway."
A group ahead of us was getting closer to the fog.
We stopped to take a few pictures. Even though it doesn't look very bright, you can see that I'm wearing sunglasses. The snow reflects even the tiniest amount of light, which is why it is also important to wear sunscreen. We applied SPF 50 three times during our hike and still got a little pink on our noses.
In the distance there's a few short peaks coming through the clouds.
Our first stop at around an hour and 15 minutes was at Panorama Point, which had a luxurious toilet in the side of a large boulder. We had some trail mix---Monster Mix from Target, which we highly recommend---as well as gummy bears, saltines and lots of water.
After about a 15 minute break we continued up and reached the snow level around 7,000 ft. It didn't feel too cold until the wind started to blow. It was chilly, but we pressed on. After another hour or so we stopped again to rest and eat. The sky opened up a little bit and we could see that we were in between two cloud levels.
We actually got a good look at the summit and a friendly hiker offered to take our picture when the sun was coming through.
We didn't quite see the summit.
After another hour or so we reached 8,700 feet and a huge front moved in which brought along with it heavy snow. We couldn't really see more than 100 feet in front of us and the trail marking stakes were almost out of sight. Even though the trail is packed with hikers and climbing groups, we decided this was far enough for our first hike. It would have taken us another 1.5 hours to get up to Muir and then we'd have to come all the way back down in the afternoon. We figured we'd call it a day and didn't want to push it.
We left around 5:30 a.m. and arrived at the Paradise parking lot at 8 a.m. We stopped at the Climbing Information Center and talked to two park rangers who gave us a map with way points as well as a few tips about hiking up the Muir Snowfield in rainy/foggy weather. Then we put on our boots and 25 lb. packs and started up the trail.
The Muir Snowfield is the most popular route up the mountain, so we saw at least 100 people going up and down during the day. Some people refer to it as a "highway."
A group ahead of us was getting closer to the fog.
We stopped to take a few pictures. Even though it doesn't look very bright, you can see that I'm wearing sunglasses. The snow reflects even the tiniest amount of light, which is why it is also important to wear sunscreen. We applied SPF 50 three times during our hike and still got a little pink on our noses.
In the distance there's a few short peaks coming through the clouds.Our first stop at around an hour and 15 minutes was at Panorama Point, which had a luxurious toilet in the side of a large boulder. We had some trail mix---Monster Mix from Target, which we highly recommend---as well as gummy bears, saltines and lots of water.
After about a 15 minute break we continued up and reached the snow level around 7,000 ft. It didn't feel too cold until the wind started to blow. It was chilly, but we pressed on. After another hour or so we stopped again to rest and eat. The sky opened up a little bit and we could see that we were in between two cloud levels.
We actually got a good look at the summit and a friendly hiker offered to take our picture when the sun was coming through.
We didn't quite see the summit.After another hour or so we reached 8,700 feet and a huge front moved in which brought along with it heavy snow. We couldn't really see more than 100 feet in front of us and the trail marking stakes were almost out of sight. Even though the trail is packed with hikers and climbing groups, we decided this was far enough for our first hike. It would have taken us another 1.5 hours to get up to Muir and then we'd have to come all the way back down in the afternoon. We figured we'd call it a day and didn't want to push it.
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