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A Great Hike

During the middle of last week, a friend of ours said, “hey, you guys wanna go to Camp Muir this weekend?” There wasn’t much hesitation – it was something we’d wanted to do for a long time and simply hadn’t found the time to do it (raising a puppy takes up a lot of free time!).

We left Bellevue around 7:30 AM Sunday morning and drove to Paradise, WA, where Mt. Rainier National Park is. At 10:30 AM we stepped off the pavement and onto the snow, to begin our 4 mile hike to Camp Muir about 5,000′ above.

It was a dreary day up and down the coast, completely cloudy and areas of light rain. We spent the first couple of hours hiking in wet, low visibility conditions. Enjoying the cool air, we took advantage of the colder temperatures to move at a brisk pace and hike in shorts and t-shirts… which would come back to haunt us.

Finally, at about 8,000′ we broke through the cloud cover and were greeted with crisp, white snow against a brilliant, blue sky, with a higher peak of Mt. Rainier looming over us. It was a spectacular sight, and something you normally only see from the window of an airplane.

We continued the long ascent, and reached Camp Muir just after 3 PM. We sat down, removed our boots and fired up the grill. PT had the great idea of bringing and cooking burgers (and a tuna steak for Michelle) at the camp. The smell was intoxicating and turned heads all over the camp. After eating energy bars, granola bars and other easily-portable food, the smell of cooking meat was enough to draw a lot of attention and create a lot of jealousy!

We ate and rested, and started our descent about 4:15 PM. We had been told it would take us two and a half to three hours to reach the parking lot. Realistically, we needed to do it in less because there was close to a 3-hour drive home and Michelle had to be at work at 11 PM.

So what better way to make a fast descent than glissading? Of course, we weren’t the only one’s with this idea, so some of the steeper sections of the trail had grooves and chutes ready for sliding. We brought along plastic bags to prevent tearing any clothing, and help keep dry. Glissading down Mt. Rainier is quite a rush, with some sections being a bit more adrenaline-inducing than others! (see video below).

We reached the parking lot just before 6:30 PM, way ahead of our expectations. Our descent took just about 2 hours! The glissading shaved off a lot of time. We started the long drive home, satisfied with what we had just accomplished and a little concerned about what was about to come…

If you’d like to see some more pictures, visit my photography blog here.

A Cautionary Tale

This was my first time on a trip that resembled anything in the category of mountaineering, and I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. Rather than beat around the bush, here’s the ugly side of Sunday’s trip:

Aside from the severe 1st degree sunburns on the backs of my legs, underside of my arms, and my neck, I’m also suffering from 2nd degree burns around my nose and mouth. How did this happen? Poor application of sunscreen is the biggest culprit, followed closely by the stupid decision to strip down to shorts and a t-shirt so that I could hike faster and remain comfortable.

So the next time I embark on any trip like this, there are a few lessons I’ve learned from this trip:

• SUNSCREEN. Don’t take this lightly. Use at least SPF30 and make sure you apply liberally to any skin that will be exposed to the sun for more than 15-20 minutes. Re-apply every 2 hours or as needed (better to be safe than sorry). Use lip balm with a high SPF.
• Wear the RIGHT clothing. Don’t hike in shorts. Don’t hike in short sleeves. Wear light-weight clothing that covers more skin. Wear a hat that protects your neck and face from the sun.
• Don’t embark on BIG day hikes when you have a tight timeline. It’s not safe to rush through a hike where you are covering 5,000′+ of elevation change over 4 miles. Give yourself plenty of time to make the trip at a safe pace.

I’m looking forward to hiking to Camp Muir again, and I hope to follow it with a trip to the summit of Mt. Rainier. But in the meantime, I’ve got 7-10 days to avoid all contact with the sun. I have to nurse the blisters on my face, keep my skin moisturized and hydrated, and try to get through the healing process with a little pain as possible.