Tamanos Mountain — Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011

Mount Rainier Area > SE - Cayuse Pass/Stevens Canyon

The trail from the Tamanos camp site to Owyhigh lakes is relatively level, which is a good thing because once you reach the trail to Tamanos Mt prepare yourself for a strenuous workout.Ridge You pick up the trail about a quarter mile pass the lakes. A faint trail goes right from the main trail and heads up through meadows. The trail is steep, narrow and dusty. It eventually leads to steep wide open meadows with great views of Governors Ridge, Barrier Peak, Cowlitz Chimneys and Shriner Peak(with binoculars you can see the lookout tower). And then the trail just disappears. At this point all you can do is blaze your own trail heading up to the saddle where you will pick up the trail again. Again the trail vanishes as you get closer to the saddle but reappears again and gets much steeper. I reached the saddle expecting snow on the western slope of the mountain and sure enough there was snow. At the saddle a faint path goes left up to a outcropping. About 25 yards down the snow covered slope I spotted a trail heading up the slope to the ridge. Rather than hike down the slope in the snow to the trail I traversed the snow free portion of the slope using wild game trails which also just vanish without warning. I finally intersected the trail and started up toward the ridge. The trail snaked its way up into a chute that became narrower, steeper and more hazardous with loose rock. When I started creating mini avalanches I decided this was not looking good and turned around and worked my way back to the saddle, went up to the outcropping and ate lunch and enjoyed the views(Sunrise, Burroughs, Summerland, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams etc.) Nice wildflower display along the trail near the lakes. Bugs not a problem.