June 3, 2007, - Van Trump
6/3/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2288
2
Pete and I met Maria at the Interurban P&R at 5:30am on Sunday where we were most unexpectedly and pleasantly greeted by a herd of goats chillin' on the grassy slope behind the parking lot. I think they were hired goats, brought there to nibble down the grass and brush, but whatever the reason, the sight of them (especially the baby goats) started my day off right! We left the trailhead at 8:15 and hiked up the mostly snow-free (except for few mildly dicey snow crossings, at least in tennies) trail to Comet Falls. Switched to ski boots and booted up the snow until we broke out in to Van Trump Park. We skinned up under mostly clear skies, but could see the thunderheads mounting in the distance and the summit never did come out from under it's cloudy cap. The temperature was perfect with a steady breeze keeping the heat at bay. We climbed up to the base of the Turtle for a nice boots off break and had the skis pointing downhill at 2:45. We had a few inches of nice, soft corn that was mostly perfect, except for the fine layer of dust coating the surface. Wasn't too much of a hindrance up high, but was pretty grabby down low and on lower angle stuff. We skied down to about 5100ft and then kept the ski boots on til we knew we'd passed all the snowy sections of trail. It was a great, relaxing day and amazingly there was no one else up there so we had the place to ourselves!
nice TR becky, the english major shines thru :)
Nice job y'all! Sounds excellent... :)
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