What a gorgeous hot day! Flowers were amazing at the higher elevations. Started on the east side of Reflection Lake hiked 1.9 miles on the Lakes Trail and turned right and connected with the east side of the Skyline trail. Hiked .43 miles on the E Skyline and then another .75 turning right on the Paradise Glacier Trail. Black flies are getting slow, deer flies circle you like mini helicopters.

Went back down to Rainier in search of more wildflower pictures. After overnighting over near Lake Tipsoo and catching the sunrise over there, I headed over to Paradise to see how the flowers were doing. Around nine am I set off up the Skyline and Lakes trails and found floral bliss. I scouted for a bit and then headed down back to Paradise for a nap. My goal was to get back on the trail in the evening for the best light. That evening after some napping and some fun people watching at the Visitor Center, I packed up my gear and headed back into the flower fields. My gear for this kind of thing includes Canon 5D mk2, Zeiss 21mm, 28mm, 50mm and 100mm lenses and polarizer filters. I also brought my Gitzo GT0540 Carbon tripod (weighs 2lbs with ball head). Everything goes into an Arcteryx 30L pack which seems to work well with my back. I've worked over the years lightening up my gear and this set up seems to cover whatever I'm likely to come across in the field. So my goal was to get to the end of the Paradise Glacier trail and work my way back down as the light got better after 7pm-ish. I found several extremely photogenic tarns up top and captured those. Also several fields of lupine, paintbrush and other wonderful flowers. I made it back to the trailhead about 9pm.

I was surprised at the amount of snow still present on Mazama Ridge; I would guess 20-25% coverage near the junction with the Skyline Trail. Lots of avalanched lilies on their way out. There are patches of lupine, lousewort, paintbrush, asters, etc, but they are few and far between. Nothing like the blankets you would hope to see. Still, the flowers that are out are prime. The best flower display IMO is higher up along the Paradise Glacier trail. Only a couple of snow patches on the trail. The meadows around Paradise are also early. Lots of lupine around the parking lot, but not much of anything up higher yet, including around Edith Creek. The was a noticable haze around Rainier on Saturday morning. I thought it was likely part of a marine layer sneaking in. I was later told that it was still the Siberia fires at work. There was a large SAR group gathered at the Narada Falls parking lot, and later seen walking up the road toward Paradise. I assume they were headed up the mountain to resume their search for the remaining missing climbers. See you on the trails!

Got x-country zone camping permit at Longmire and left Paradise at 6pm. Took Skyline to Paradise Glacier trail, located a safe(ish) snow bridge over the roaring Stevens Creek and crossed the basin to the social trail up Stevens Ridge. Made it to ridge top before sunset and set up camp on the bare spot. Unobstructed views of Rainier, Adams, Little Tahoma, Goat Rocks, Tatoosh Range, Fan Lake,... Next morning across snowfields to ridge below Cowlitz Rocks. You gotta see this-the Cowlitz, Ingraham and Whitman Glaciers filling a massive valley- I mean HUGE! After many photos made our way over Stevens Ridge, crossing the Willy Wonka Glacier and to Stevens Creek. Back at the Paradise River we took the Skyline and upper Skyline back to Paradise (the long way). This could be done as a day trip, and this side is much less crowded than the Nisqually side. Entire trip on Green Trails 270s.

A missed freeway exit led us to an unexpected and wonderful experience. We were on I5 headed south for I90 intending to head up to Snow Lake, when we found ourselves in the wrong lane and couldn't get off in time. We hated to have to go miles to the next exit and turn around, and as we groused about it we saw Mount Rainier looming above us and said: "Why don't we go there instead?" We kept on driving--and then everything clicked--everything was perfect. We got up to Paradise just before noon, discovered there was actually a vacancy at the Inn, checked in and were on the trail by 12:30. It was absolutely gorgeous in the meadows. The bright red leaves of the millions of blueberry bushes shone in the sunshine. We headed up the Skyline Trail to the cutoff to the Pebble Creek Trail and took it to the creek. Neither of us likes to cross rapid streams, even though all sorts of people (including children) were heading across it. Instead, we stayed on the south side of the creek and made our way up it and under and alongside the snow field to a large rock at about 7600 feet. The mountain looked amazingly bare--the snowfield dwindled, and glaciers diminished (Global Warming!). From our viewpoint we could see Mt Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and even in the farthest distance, Mt. Hood. Unfortunately my camera was out of film (yes, I'm still not digitized), and I regretted not being able to capture the magnificence of the day. We returned to the Skyline Trail and continued the loop over the High Skyline and back by way of the Golden Gates Trail. Ironically, that night, they showed the first section of Ken Burns film about the National Parks in the lobby. Monday morning, we got up early and did a second hike, this time to the Paradise Glacier. Here again we were saddened by the retreat of the glaciers. I remember when the Ice Caves were still existant. We went a brief way past the end of the maintained trail and climbed a small knoll for a better view. The trail back to Paradise has the best views of the eastern meadows and they are truly breathtaking. These were defintely the two best days of hiking for the season. The clouds began to come in as we were leaving after lunch and we knew that snow would be falling at Paradise before the night was over.