Yesterday was my 'snow present' day for Will. What I mean by that is once a month I've agreed to go to snow for him (yesterday counted as two months!). So we went to Mt. Rainier and boot-packed it up to Camp Muir and skied down. It was roughly 77 degrees at Paradise where we started and probably 50ish at Camp Muir and we had snow the whole way.
Honestly, it was the hardest sports-related endeavor I've ever done. Our total time up and back was 7:23:07, up in just under five hours, rested at the top for about half an hour, and then skied about an hour and a half down. We were slowed down a bit on the way down because in some places we had to take our skis off and carry them over a rocky trail, but overall, not too bad for skiing in July. It was satisfying to finally make it to Muir, after two previous attempts, and the views were awesome from 10,000 feet. And, carrying up our packs with skis and gear was good training for our summit attempt this fall.
It's a beautiful time of year at Mt. Rainier National Park, you don't have to do the haul up to Muir to enjoy it. I suggest checking it out if you are anywhere close. There's a lot of wildlife and wildflowers and the mountain scenery is absolutely gorgeous. They have a nice hotel in the park (Longmire) with a restaurant, and lots of trails. Get outside and check it out.
http://www.visitrainier.com
Our hike:
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/camp-muir
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Our rough route.
Photo courtesy of: www.bluugnome.com |
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| Start of the hike. |
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| Me with a cloudy Mt. Rainier in the background. |
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| Mt. Adams |
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| Me on the way up with Mt. Adams in the distance. |
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| Mt. St. Helens |
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Lunch break. We stayed well covered to
protect ourselves from the sun, as evident here! |
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| Little Tahoma; view from Camp Muir. |
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| View looking South from Muir. |
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| Skiing down! |
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