Mount Adams was closed (a case of forest fire) so we decided to try a little day hike from Paradise (5,400ft) to Camp Muir (10,188ft)
Paradise meadows was still partly under snow
but spring flowers were making a show wherever they could.
Panorama point made a good spot for piccy's of the crew...
...and of Mount St Helens (or what's left of it) and Mount Adams to the distant south.
Next was the climb up to the Muir Snowfield...
...with views up to the summit of Rainier and across to the scared valley left by the retreating Nisqually Glacier.
After a long slog up the snowfield: Camp Muir appeared through the misty cloud!
Where we pitched the tent and cooked up some lunch
(a different tent from the picture 'cause I forgot to snap Chris')
Going down, the clear weather changed to foggy as the predicted 12,000ft cloud base came in at about 5,000ft.
Going down was quicker thanks to a spot of glacading.
Martin,
aka
chief shoot spotter, and Chris,
aka
Mr. Speedy, led the way with Aiddy,
aka
I feel a bit tom-and-dick and need to check the GPS every 10mins so we don't slide off a cliff or into a crevasse, followed some distance behind.
Back to Paradise just before 7pm in the gathering gloom.
I conveniently didn't get a piccy of Chris beating me in a run back to the car (Martin correctly observing "it's all a bit matcho").
Good day out. Can't wait till the boys can give it a go :-)
Big thanks to Fay & the Boys for the day pass.