Camp Muir, Lakes Loop & Skyline Trail Loop — Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2015

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

With continued great weather forecast, I decided to test myself on a hike up to Camp Muir, which I’d not done for many years after a knee injury. To add variety, I thought, let’s start from Reflection Lakes, since it had been even longer since I’d hiked Mazama Ridge. So I slept in my minivan in the overnight lot at Paradise and bicycled down to Reflection Lakes at dawn. The Lakes trail up Mazama Ridge is in great shape, with many views and fields of wildflowers along the way. A big bonus was an unafraid male blue grouse by the trail, displaying a large, yellow throat patch, in addition to a tail fan. Frequently heard, but seldom seen. Turn right at the junction with the Skyline trail, admiring the views of the Muir snowfield and Paradise Glacier above. Soon I was crossing a magnificent rock garden of wildflowers amid rivulets of cold water from the melting snows. The views south got better and better, from the Goat Rocks to Adams to St Helens, rising behind the ever more scenic Tatoosh Range. So clear that I could see not just Mt Hood but even a little of Mt Jefferson way down in the heart of Oregon. Approaching Panorama Point, there is a section of trail still under snow. But the upper trail is snow free and leads to an even better view point. There it joins the Pebble Creek trail, where there is a small snowfield that yields fresh water. Shortly you are at Pebble Creek itself – search until you find a good spot to hop from rock to rock across it. The snow field was in good shape, with sun cups not too bad, though without using crampons, I’d slid once in a while even while following in others footsteps. By the time I finally got to Camp Muir, I was ready to drink a whole bottle and have a good lunch, in that thin dry air. Most day hikers had turned back, so at Camp Muir I was surrounded by climbers, many who had just returned from the summit and were taking a break before heading down, others just setting up their tents for a night on the snow. However one group of 9 was already headed across the Cowlitz Glacier toward a high camp at Ingraham flats. I put on my rain pants for the trip down but found only a few sections steep enough for much of a sitting glissade. Then I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride, or use my poles for extra thrust to keep moving over bumps in the tracks pioneered by others. Back at Pebble Creek, one young man out for a summer stroll in the park pointed toward the top of the mountain and asked if there was trail leading up there. So I dramatized to him the rigors and dangers mountaineering. As for me, now I could enjoy the easy walk back to Paradise, remembering times past when I had summited and felt like a zombie at this point.