Elevation Gain: Approximately 4500 ft.
Time: 8:45 am - 2:30 pm
Weather: Mostly sunny and warm, really warm.
Lately, as avid readers might have noticed, the hiking commitment has been a little stale. I am still loving the hiking, especially when I am on the hike, but the logistics of planning, gearing up, and driving are not the best parts of my hikes. Occasionally, a hike will just fall into my lap. That was the case with this week. Creighton walked into my office on Thursday to invite me to go along with a student and him up to Camp Muir on Mount Rainier. For those of you not from the PNW or familiar with Mount Rainier, Camp Muir is named after John Muir and is the most used base camp for climbers attempting the summit. John Muir is a personal hero of mine. In the Visitor's Center at Paradise I saw the following quote of his, "Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.” I jumped at the chance to head up Camp Muir, since I have never been there.
The student and Creighton were going to backcountry ski down from Muir, and the student had somewhere to be at 6 pm in Tacoma. We decided on a 6:30 am meet up with a plan to be walking by 9 am. We would turn around to be back at the car by 3 pm. We were in the parking lot at 8:30 am. We were geared up and walking up by 8:45 am. The snow, like last week, was frozen and solid. I had my snowshoes strapped to my back and did not end up using them at all on the entire hike. As we began walking, we were so excited by the prospect of the weather we would have. The skies were blue to the south, and a lenticular cloud was concealing the summit of Rainier. The tatoosh range to the south was just as hypnotic today as it is every time I am in the park. Within 15 minutes, we were stopping to shed layers. The weather was so nice, I felt like I was on a summer hike.
Creighton, the student, and I all stayed pretty close together as we climbed to Panorama Point. We were there by 10 am. Then began the long slog up the Muir snowfield to Camp Muir. the conditions were great, and the student and I fell into a great rhythm of talking and climbing. Around 11:15 am, I was famished. This is the second time I was climbing up on a mountain and found myself starving. I guess it is better than the opposite, but I was shaking a bit before we all sat down to eat. While tearing through my wrap, the student shared some amazing, home-made chocolate chip cookies (you got to love hiking with students). We got back up and began moving again around 11:35.
As we climbed, I was keeping an eye on my watch, knowing that I was going to take a lot longer to get down. Around 1 pm, I stopped and told the student I would see him back at the car. I was within 500 vertical feet of Camp Muir and just low enough that I could not see the shelter. I had a great walk/glissade down. I was back relatively quickly. I only took one break to drink a bunch of water and cool down from the sun. I was in the parking lot around 2:25 pm. The student and Creighton showed up less than 15 minutes later. It was a great day with two of my favorite hiking companions.
Orchid: Highest I have ever been on Rainier.
Onion: Turning around just a tad too early and not seeing Camp Muir, or not having backcountry skis.
Picture:
Google Map
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