A Little Slice of Paradise - An Overnight Snowshoe trip to Paradise , Mt. Rainier

March 1-2, 2014

AN here writing my first trip report for the blog! Hopefully I can keep this as entertaining as AL does!

We were just itching to spend the night outdoor, especially after I finished making my first backpack! With storms and heavy snowfall in the forecast for most of the Cascades, we drove down to Mt. Rainier to snowshoe around Paradise, where the weather was supposed to be 27/18 and 4-8" of snow. The park employees keep the roads and grounds well maintained so the drive was a breeze (chained up a couple miles from the visitor center.

We snowshoed around the center, heading up the Edith Creek Basin route for awhile, but turned back not long after as visibility was getting worse the higher we went up. The snow and the low clouds made it hard to see more than a couple hundred feet.  

Where's the mountain?

Backpack was the most comfortable one Ive worn, and it should be, since I made it custom fitted for my use. 

My BPL post with details on making my backpack.

There were a bunch of people building some awesome snowcaves all around the park to hunker down in for the night. I think it'd be something fun to try out, especially near the visitor center, where there's a sense of security in case things do not go according to plan (Bathroom/payphone building open 24/7) .

Snowboard tracks.

We continued to snowshoe around the park and made our way to the west most trail (of the two) that goes to Glacier Vista. We staked out a nice camp site near some trees on a bluff, but decided we'd make our camp closer to civilization, since I wasn't comfortable being too far out with our first snow overnight in the Tarptent Double Rainbow with that much snow expected to fall at night.

Stomping down the snow to make camp!

 

We made camp near some trees again, had our meal and headed into the tent when it got dark around 1900. Lows hit 22* F, and we only got about 2-3" of snow during the night. Our Double Rainbow held up wonderfully. 

My karo step baffled down quilt I made was super toasty, and I didn't even have to cinch it up all the way. Pretty much just used it like a blanket. I didn't even get a chance to use the down hood I made because I was so warm. Here are the details on my down quilt on Backpacking Light.

Angela Finally got to use her Marmot Women's Helium 15* down sleeping bag in cold weather, and it looks like the temperature rating is pretty accurate as it actually kept her warm!

Packing up. So sad.

A much clearer morning!

We got up around 7 and broke down camp and took a morning stroll up towards Alta Vista/Glacier Vista but turned around when the wind picked up. We didn't have any goggles on, so the snow/ice pelting our face stung and kept getting in our eyes.

After making it down off the mountain, we hung around the Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise, waiting for it to open so we could grab some hot cocoa before leaving. Talked to a nice guy named Josh, who owns and operates a gear store, Peak Outdoors, in Texas, who was visiting Rainier for a week. While there, the rangers gave us an awesome sled! Angela and I booked it up the Snow Play Area and took it down for a ride. The screams of pure joy coming from Angela was wonderful. We're definitely bringing friends back here to go sledding/tubing!

UPDATED: Colchuck Lake (almost!)

October 5, 2013

Andy and I were lucky to have our engagement photos taken by the lovely and talented Miss Jen Au (check out her blogs here and here). I am a huge fan of her photography not only because we're friends, but because they make me want to cry - so beautiful.

It turned out to be an ordeal picking the location. Somewhere with larches? Okay, Lake Ingalls. On Thursday night a trip report appeared warning of waist deep snow and snowshoes recommended. Dang it! Change of plans - Colchuck and Stuart Lake. Jen suggested pictures at sunset, so we left Mill Creek around 12:45pm and arrived at the trailhead around 3:00pm. Wow, late start. We decided to head to Colchuck only. For some reason, I didn't think we'd be taking pictures during the hike. Luckily I wore a cute hiking shirt. We encountered only a little bit of snow and it ended up being a very nice day. Because we stopped several times to take pictures along the trail, at 5:45 pm we still had about an hour of hiking left to get to the lake. The sun was setting quickly so we backtracked to a nice spot and took pictures with the sunset in our fancy clothes. Andy dearest set up the tent for me to change in <3. It was a fun experience. I found out I have very poor posture. I'm also very awkward, but hey, I already knew this. We've also never hiked at night before. Although Jen took a pretty hard fall (damn roots) and we ended up having to backtrack out of the horse trail, it wasn't horrible and it's totally worth pictures at sunset. Just need to make sure the hike down isn't too difficult. We got our pictures in about a month ago. Take a look-see: