Hiked with my sister through Paradise. 

We breezed through the Longmire entrance and found parking in the main lot at Paradise when we arrived around 6PM. The restrooms in the visitor center had just closed, so the only option was the poorly maintained bathrooms near the Guide House.

It was marmot golden hour, along with several appearances from curious chipmunks.

Misbehaving tourists were sadly out in throngs.

Bugs were a bit of an annoyance and I came out of our trek with a few bites despite wearing repellent.

Beautiful evening colors! We were even able to spot the shadow of the mountain. Mount Adams and Mount St Helens were also out despite some haze.

We ended our journey just past the Glacier Vista point. Some easy patches of snow to cross but cannot comment on the trail conditions further up.

Overall, a very refreshing evening at the mountain!

Trail was in good conditions and not terribly difficult to go through! A good time to go. Very busy though.

Watching the weather & Longmire gate status for several days (check @MountRainierNPS on Twitter for up-to-date information on the Longmire gate; it has been closed recently due to staffing shortages), we passed through the Nisqually entrance a little before 10 am on this sunny Thursday. The weather, however, was coming! The road to Paradise had icy patches in the shady forest below Narada Falls (we deployed our 4-wheel drive to be on the safe side); above Narada Falls the road was bare and dry.  We joined a little over a dozen cars in the Paradise parking lot and headed out on the Alta Vista trail hiking on the boot path next to the snowshoe and ski tracks, our snowshoes on our packs.  As we climbed the air grew cooler and by the time we got to the base of the long haul up to Panorama Point, the clouds were coming in and the wind was picking up. We changed our plans from heading to Pan Point and instead put on our snowshoes and dropped down into Edith Creek Basin. It was warmer here and the snow was perfect!

After wandering the basin in both directions and enjoying a long snack with spectacular views, we got back to the parking lot about 2:30 to see almost 40 cars.  The Paradise road conditions were the same going out as they were coming in.  It was a wonderful day in the snow!

Decided to sneak another overnight at MRNP before the next week of storms.  This time I brought my friend Dan.  We both dearly needed to get away from our screens and the news.

We got to Longmire and got a permit at the last minute before making it through the gate at about 2:45pm.  We arrived at the Paradise parking lot and assembled our gear.  A ranger stopped by and confirmed our permit and directed us to the overnight parking.

Basically, it hit about 10 degrees in the tent and there was a decent wind blowing outside of it.  I brought a Hilleberg 4 season tent and staked it using dead men technique.  It worked since they felt like they were sunk into concrete in the morning.  Minimal condensation which was also good thanks to the breeze.  The snow in the morning was still powdery.  Nothing had melted and refroze.

We both had Zero degree bags, good pads and multiple layers and were warm throughout.  We had skied into the area around Alta Vista and skied out in the morning.  Another beautiful dusk/dawn in the Park.  Will probably have another go after this week's storm.  The only downside to this adventure is driving down Meridian  ;)