To The Summit

Thursday was a beautiful day, and what better way to enjoy it than go outside into it. And we really went outdoors....we went snowshoeing.

You know it's a clear day, when you can see Mount Rainier. So that's exactly where we decided to go showshoeing, at Mt Rainier. Not to mention, that the guy from REI went on about 45 minutes on how great Mt Rainier was for snowshoeing than Snoqualamie, the other place we were considering.

Our friend Aaron joined us in the morning to partake in the snowshow adventure. So, the three of us hopped in the car and headed for the mountain. Before we headed onto the open road, we made a quick pit-stop at Wholefoods for some sandwiches to pack along.

The drive took about 2-something hours, with us arriving at the Paradise parking lot around noon. We slapped on our snowshoes and headed into the snow wonderland. And the sun was still shining bright as beautiful as ever. In fact, it was so warm, that we hardly had to wear any layers. I was even rolling up my sleeves it was that sunny & warm.

We're not entirely sure what trail we took. Maybe Alta Vista or maybe Mazama Ridge. We just picked a direction and went. We saw another snowshoeing couple ahead of us that were blazing the trail for us. We walked through a valley and started upward. We we got to the top and had a little lunch.

We continued on, doubting the ridge that lay ahead. It was quite steep, but Aaron trudged ahead - the trail blazer. And after some huffing and puffing, we made it to the peek of the ridge (or, as I like to say, the summit). It was a dazzling site, with views of the surrounding mountain ranges - we saw Mt Adams and Mt Saint Helens. Here's a little video I took from the top:

2012 March Snowshoeing from Heather Brown (O'Neill) on Vimeo.

Lastly, we headed back down the other side of the ridge, making a nice little loop with us ending back at the Paradise parking lot.

But that wasn't the end of the day. Not sir ye. We also got two beautiful views of Mt Rainier on the road home. One from inside the park at Kautz Creek and another from a small town near at Clear Lake. Can't beat these views....

And was one fine day of beautiful weather and showshoeing.