My trip up the mountain was a lot of fun but I didn't lose a single
pound! In fact, I managed to gain one over the weekend.
*sigh*
Oh well. Thats life.
My trip started at waking up around 4:30am to beat the Seattle traffic
down south and get to Mount Rainier's visitor center before the very
few parking spots filled up. The drive there was gorgeous and the
weather seemed absolutely perfect along the way.
Time for some mount rainier facts before I continue:1. Mount Rainier is so big, it has three separate climate
zones, each with different flora and fauna and its large enough to
create its own weather.
2. Mount Rainier is an active volcano and has an elevation of
14,411 feet. That's really really high!
3. Mount Rainier is where the first Mount Everest training was done
due to the similar climates at the top.
4. Mount Rainier has some of the largest glaciers within the
contiguous 48 states.
5. Where I was hiking averages 630 inches of snowfall in a year and
the snow never melts away completely.
6. Every year thousands of people attempt a summit climb. Less than
half make it to the top.
That being said, I'd like to start out letting you all know that the
weather was indeed, incredible. There was a cloud layer on the upper
portion of the mountain all day and thats what I got to walk through!
There were places I was hiking where I couldn't see more than 6 or 7
feet ahead of me because the cloud was so thick. You could literally
wave through it and see it swirl. Even though the experience of
spending most of my day in a cloud was impressive, it meant that I
couldn't see much around me and there wasn't much to take for
pictures.
At 5800 feet in the meadows, the cloud mass was thin enough to see a
good 25-30 feet ahead. At 6200 feet that shortened to about 15-20
feet. At 7150 feet (about half way to the summit), the cloud was so
thick that I couldn't see far beyond my boots.
Overall, the hike kicked my butt. I was so stiff and tired afterwards!
I can't wait to go again. The plan is to make it to camp Muir (maybe
next spring) which is at 10,100 feet. If I can make it that far, the
summit is only a day's hike away. Woot!
I hear the fastest/easiest way down from the summit is to sit on your
but and slide down a glacier. Kinda scary when there are cracks in it
the size of mac trucks.
Ok... gotta figure out how to add the pics.
Pictures in order left to right:
1. Wildflowers are everywhere up there. At least until you hit higher than about 6500 feet.
2. Thats what the path looked like a lot. If the cloud were any denser, my camera wouldn't take a pic of anything focused.
3. I think there were about 6 Marmots along the way, including one baby. He was adorable!
4. Glacier meltoff. This is a chunk of glacier that has broken away from the terminus and is slowly sliding down the mountain. It makes the prettiest little brooks!
5. Notice the cloud sitting on the mountain? This picture was taken from the decent after walking through that high point thick with cloud.
It was fun!
- Sunny
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