Great Day for Up!

With fantastic weather in the forecast and a rare day off work for Memorial Day this year, I wanted to make sure the day wasn’t squandered. I decided to spend the day with three off my brothers-in-law (Jack Walsh, Joe Urvina, Dave Button) and a nephew (Daniel Walsh) and do what is probably my favorite day hike in the world, the hike to Camp Muir in Mt. Rainier National Park.

This hike has what I think is some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in the world, at least from what I have seen so far.

For its part though the hike is a bit of a butt-kicker. Camp Muir is the base camp primarily used by climbers ascending to the summit of Mt. Rainier. The round trip scheduled for the day would have us at right around 10 miles which isn’t too bad on the surface. But add to that the fact that you climb nearly 5,000 feet in elevation to that and it gets a bit more difficult. Also, this time of year, the second you step away from the parking lot, you are in snow for the entire trip. Did I mention, this was my favorite hike?

Our group met up in Tacoma at 3:30 in the morning to make the hike and from there drove the couple of hours it took to reach the Paradise Lodge on Mt. Rainier where our hike began. We geared up quickly and were on our way.

By leaving very early in the morning, our hope was to be on well frozen snow at least for our ascent which seemed to pay off. We made good time climbing steadily across ridges up steep hills until we were on the mountain just below Panorama Point.

Things got kind of interesting here. Later in the year, when the snow has melted out, there is a clearly defined trail through a rock cutout that safely guides you through this very steep section of trail. This time however, the cutout was completely snow-covered still and it was unclear the best way to go.
Looking in front of us to the Nisqually Glacier seemed the easiest approach terrain-wise but it was evident that there had been many recent avalanches there so we didn’t head that way, Instead we headed up a very steep hillside on the hard snow and ice. Crampons and an ice-axe would have been totally appropriate here but we didn’t have that gear along.

We all kind of picked out our best options to get by this area. I chose to follow some very deep footprints that had been made by someone while the snow had been softer to dig my feet into and give me stability on the slope. The guy had a much longer stride than me though making following difficult. For this short portion of our hike, it was better to not look down, which is where you would be headed had you lost your footing.

Once past this area, it was a pretty easy hike over to Pebble Creek where we met up, rested briefly and refueled before taking on the remaining 2,800 feet of elevation gain on the Muir Snowfield. This part is only fun in retrospect. It is a really huff and puff climb. It was like being on a giant snowy eternal Stairmaster. Our group split up a bit here, each keeping our own pace.

The views from the hike were great, we could see Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens (which Joe and I should be standing on the top of in three weeks) and even Mt. Hood all the way in Oregon.



Eventually Camp Muir came into site which is deceptive. It seems like you are almost there when you see it but it still takes forever to get there as you are exhausted and the elevation is starting to take its toll with the thin air.

As we each arrived at camp, we relaxed (passed out) and enjoyed the sunshine and very rare balmy weather up there.

We even took some time to explore the rocky outcrop above camp and took a picture with the memorial plaque that commemorates two climbers killed very nearby.

Once everyone arrived and was rested, it was time to head back down again. This is MUCH quicker since gravity was now working with us. The snow by now though had become very slushy, the consistency of a snow-cone which made footing difficult as sometimes you would stay on top and sometimes you would stick in up to your knees.

Glissding wasn’t a very good option even with how the snow was. Once we arrived back at the steep Panorama Point though, I decided to give it a try. In case you don’t know, glissading is fancy mountain-speak for sitting on your butt and sliding downhill. Anyhow, I quickly picked up more speed than I wanted, tried to apply my brakes (feet) and quickly caught air, flipping over and doing a face-plant sliding the rest of the way down filling my shirt with snow.

This was all much to the delight of Joe Urvina who watched from above and then wisely chose himself to skip the sliding here. Dave Button was kind enough to retrieve my poles and GPS which had both come loose from me, pictured here.

Jack Walsh wasn’t with us at this point but I heard later that he chose a different glissade chute for this section of the mountain with even worse results. I guess he tore his meniscus in his knee and will have to have it operated on later this week. Doh!

My tired feet and sunburned face were eventually very happy to see the parking lot come back into site. Paradise never before seemed so aptly named. I was very happy to get out of my by now soaking wet boot and socks and head back down off the mountain.

We had a blast. I’d do it again today if I could.