timmus
Well-known member
For the last couple of weeks, I was in vacation out west with JS (Motabobo), here's my first TR. Enjoy...
It was foggy in the morning, and the first thing we learned was that the summer TH was close due to snow. That meant two more miles to hike, and 6000 feet to climb instead of the regular 4000.
No problem dude, we’re in vacation, so it’s all good.
As soon as we got above treeline, the sky cleared up and the volcano appeared in front of us. Hood and Adams popped out of the clouds, it was just like heaven. There was smoke around Adams, later we learned that many forest fires were going on there.
A very ''ashy'' trail led us to snow, followed by scree, and then more steeper snow patches, and finally the crater rim. It was absolutely awesome to walk around the lava dome, knowing that few years ago (2004), St. Helens was active. Smoke is still coming out by the way; we could see three or four chimneys inside the crater.
The views of Rainier were jaw dropping, we couldn’t ask for better weather conditions. I didn’t even put a jacket on… JS decided to go for the true summit, a .25 walk along the rim. Some hikers said it was too technical, so I didn’t go, but I regret because JS said it was a piece of cake. We have pictures though.
We hiked down, drove back to Cougar and enjoyed showers and burgers. Next trailhead : Timberline Lodge, OR.
PICTURES
It was foggy in the morning, and the first thing we learned was that the summer TH was close due to snow. That meant two more miles to hike, and 6000 feet to climb instead of the regular 4000.
No problem dude, we’re in vacation, so it’s all good.
As soon as we got above treeline, the sky cleared up and the volcano appeared in front of us. Hood and Adams popped out of the clouds, it was just like heaven. There was smoke around Adams, later we learned that many forest fires were going on there.
A very ''ashy'' trail led us to snow, followed by scree, and then more steeper snow patches, and finally the crater rim. It was absolutely awesome to walk around the lava dome, knowing that few years ago (2004), St. Helens was active. Smoke is still coming out by the way; we could see three or four chimneys inside the crater.
The views of Rainier were jaw dropping, we couldn’t ask for better weather conditions. I didn’t even put a jacket on… JS decided to go for the true summit, a .25 walk along the rim. Some hikers said it was too technical, so I didn’t go, but I regret because JS said it was a piece of cake. We have pictures though.
We hiked down, drove back to Cougar and enjoyed showers and burgers. Next trailhead : Timberline Lodge, OR.
PICTURES
