Rick is looking at Mt. Rainier from
 the Golden Gate Trail. The hill just
Dad's head was our Saturday destination.

This trip was about us, Mark and Rick Guthrie. It was a reunion of backpacking partners, father and son. Being a Guthrie, and being close to the Olympic mountains, the Cascade range, the Puget Sound, and the Pacific Ocean, it was inevitable that we would spend enormous amounts of time on adventures or thinking about them. These adventures included backpacking, rafting, climbing, hiking, and scuba diving. When I, Mark, turned 18, I pursued three more adventures: I served a mission for my church, graduated from college, married and had three kids. These new adventures took me to Utah, New York City, Brazil, back to Utah, then to California. Now I am in Washington with my family. And we rightly begin our adventures on Mt. Rainier.





MSR snowshoes used.

We chose this destination because we used to go there every winter. We left Paradise Inn heading east on an unplowed road, then went up the hill towards the top of the ridge. We left at 11:50 thinking we wouldn't arrive at the top of the ridge until 4 pm. We got up on top in a little over an hour! Boy did that make us feel good. Our physical health was much better than we thought! We used snow shoes for our travel. We chose them because we heard it was going to be icy. Over a year ago I ruptured my achilles and I'm still feeling a bit nervous about it's strength. Snowshoes gave me more confidence then cross country skis. Maybe I can try the skis in the future.

While we were paying for our back country permit at the Longmire museum, I asked if there was any new volcanic activity on the mountain. The ranger mentioned that earth quake activity was increasing and there was an enormous rock fall just a few months ago. Amazingly, someone caught it on video. 

Camp Muir, a popular base camp used by mountaineers on the mountain, is just around the corner from this rockfall. The ranger mentioned that the radios became very active with other rangers at Camp Muir asking which way the mountain was blowing, assuming it was an eruption. We didn't feel anything while we were up there. Always a blessing.

Sun Setting

Moon rising in the east

Light is almost gone.

I am grateful that life can be used to learn from our mistakes. We made camp just off the ridge in an area between what looks like a moonscape and a very steep slope. And we were fortunate enough to have the moon come up just as the sun was going down. The combination of moon light and snow makes it almost unnecessary to use any other light to see. Something happened to the moon that night, and we didn't know about it. Around 4 am there was a lunar eclipse and we didn't get to see it. I remember waking up at 4 am and thinking the clouds moved in because it wasn't as bright inside the tent. Boy did we regret not checking the news to see what was going on in the heavens.

I caught my tent as the rear snow stake
let go of my tent. 

The winds picked up on us in the middle of the night. When we first arrived at the site we saw the drifts of snow and the leaning trees on the edge of the steep slope but we stayed there anyway. In the morning I gained a greater appreciation for snow stakes. We used two different kinds of snow stakes on my tent, and we learned which one we wont be using again. While waiting to eat breakfast a strong gust of wind came over the ridge and moved the back part of my tent. I leaped on top of the strap that was still attached to a snow stake. I was very grateful for those two snow stakes at the front of my tent. If they had not done there job, the tent would have slid on the ice until it dropped over the side of the ridge. Lessons learned: 1) Shelter your tent by digging it down into the snow or building a wall around it; 2) don't sleep next to steep drop offs unless you have to; 3) use snow stakes that have wings.

Very steep chute

The goal for the day was to either decend back to Paradise Inn or try to make it up to Panorama Point. Thankfully, we chose Panorama Point. It was all uphill and the conditions became more icy. The snow shoes handled the ice well. We made it to Panorama Point and had spectacular views. We could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens. From here we were going to descend down the other side but learned that it was so steep and icy that two other snowshoers had just slid and roled down. We chose to go back the way we came and take a short cut down. What a shortcut! We found a chute just to the east of Panorama point but it was extremely steep. The snow wasn't as icy so it was easy to slide down...maybe it was a bit too steep. Rocks were close on either side and there were rocks at the bottom. It was extremely important to go down in a controlled manner. We made it down without harm but my energy was wasted from the excitement of going down and the effort I gave to keep my speed under control.

From here, we were down to Pradise Inn in under an hour. We visited the new visitor's center and headed out. We were blessed to see our one animal in the car on the way out: the Silver Fox.