July 20, 2006, Muir Snowfield

I would've never made this trip if it hadn't been for a friend flying into Seattle from Orlando.  She convinced me to meet her at Paradise on Friday, so I decided to take an extra day and get some turns while awaiting her arrival.  I left Eugene at 4:00 pm on Wednesday and reached the park around 9:00.  I got a late start Thursday morning and didn't hit the trail until 9:00 am.  This was my first trip to Rainier, so the hike was slow.  I seemed to be in ski touron mode taking lots of pictures.  I switched to skis just above Pebble Creek and continued the slow, tourist pace skinning up to Muir.  The snow was in pretty bad shape; thick, sticky, and horrendously suncupped. 

I reached Muir at 2:00 pm and spent the next three hours chatting with climbers, eating, and napping.  I thought about staying the night as the public shelter was uncrowded, but I decided to make my descent around 5:30.  The snow was very soft and the massive cups made me work for every turn.  I started out traversing to skiers right from the camp because the snow looked smoother below the rock debris field, but I eventually traversed back to the rocks on the opposite side of the snowfield, skiers left, and found the snow to be a bit smoother.  I continued down this line, staying along the rocks and got enough turns to have me grinning like an idiot all the way to Pebble Creek.  From here I switched over to hiking boots and called it good for the day.  The hike out was enjoyable.  The wildflowers were incredible and the deer, marmots, and mountain goats were out in full force. 

This was a great first trip to Rainier and I'm convinced that I need to get up here and hit it earlier next season.