Beth and I did not know what to expect at Mt. Ranier National Park. It was one of the 35 parks on our list, and we knew it was a volcanic mountain, but other than that we had few expectations for our time there. We couldn’t have been more off-base. While we undersold it, Mt. Ranier over-delivered.Base camp for our visit was Union Creek campground in the Guifford Pinchot State Forest near Ashford, Washington. We had a really nice creek-side site adjacent to the luxurious outhouse bathrooms. I’m not kidding.
Like several of the bathrooms we have had the joy of using during our trip, these were just pit toilets like a porta-potty, just a bit bigger. I must say, though, they were cleaner than many of the bathrooms we have encountered. The campground host cleaned them twice a day. No showers or electric, but the sound of the creek flowing by made up for all of that.
We arrived at Mt. Ranier around 7:15 in the morning. From the park entrance to the visitor center at the foot of the mountain was a 22 mile uphill climb. I knew going up that we would be burning up more of the remaining brake linings on the return trip down.The visitor center didn’t open until 9, so we had to wait to get our passport stamped for this new park. There were many people milling around the parking lot. We noticed several large groups of people assembled at the base of the mountain and it appeared they were going to be climbing to the summit of the 14,400 plus feet peak based on the gear they were carrying.
Beth did a little exploring and found that the trailhead for the trail leading to the summit peak was right at the visitor center. There was also the Skyline Ridge Trail that lead up to Panorama Point, an overlook of the surrounding Cascade Mountains. The Skyline Ridge Trail is a 4 mile round trip from the visitor center, and included a 1700 foot nearly vertical climb up the face of Mount Ranier. Since we had nothing better to do, we decided to make an attempt to reach Panorama Point.The entire mountain was still covered with deep snow.
From the visitor center parking lot, we stepped into this white landscape and began the assault on Mt. Ranier. The first half mile was a slight incline, but with each step forward, the incline continued to increase. The snow was still packed from the hundreds of foot steps that had preceded us, and it made for easy going. The temperature was right around 40 when we began, so the snow had not yet gotten slushy.
After about 30 minutes of hiking, we reached the base of the nearly vertical snow wall leading straight up the mountain. Ahead of us, we could see various individuals and groups of people making their way up the hill. Those near the top looked like ants plodding along in single file a step at a time. As we stood there looking up, way up, we decided to continue forward, with no commitment to reach the top. We would go as far as we felt comfortable and capable of going.
Since Beth and I have done a considerable amount of hiking since we started this escapade, we are in pretty good climbing shape and felt like we had a chance to make it to the top. Beth set the pace and methodically continued moving upward at a very respectable clip. I trailed behind her and had trouble at times keeping up because the tread on my hiking boots had seen better days. I was doing a lot of slipping. We both kept climbing.About two thirds of the way up, we took a break for a drink of water. Looking up, we could see the little bathroom building at the spot where you reach Panaroma Point. It looked a far way off. However, the visitor center at the base of the mountain was even farther away. As we stood there contemplating whether we wanted to keep going, Beth looked down at me and asked what she should do. I told her that we didn’t have to do anything we weren’t comfortable with, and she astutely mentioned that we still had to make our way down the precipitous hill on which we were now standing. I could sense the conflict within her. I knew she wanted to go on, but I also knew she was a bit tentative about the return trip down the hill. She asked once more, “What should I do?” “You should go up,” I responded. And so we did.
As our elevation increased, the temperature decreased causing the snow to be slick and frozen solid as cement. Over the next half hour, we slowly but surely made progress, until at last we reached the top of the Skyline Ridge Trail. It was an invigorating moment for both of us. We had made it to the top. Before us the route to the summit of Mt. Ranier beckoned those intrepid climbers who were going on. All around us were snow capped peaks of this portion of the Cascade mountain range. We could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens in front of us. In every direction, smaller peaks dotted the horizon. Panorama Point provided a remarkable view from which to see this beautiful part of our country.We spent about 15 minutes at the point, soaking up this wonderful view.
At one point a park service employee arrived carrying a sign to place warning people not to feed any animals they encounter. I was wearing a Penn State hoodie, and when the employee noticed it, he said, “hey, Penn State, WE ARE”, which is the traditional greeting fellow Penn Staters give one another when they meet. “PENN STATE!” is the mandatory reply. It turns out this young man grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia area. It’s a small word, afterall.Since we were ready to head back down, Beth asked the young man the best way down. “Do you like to slide?” he asked us. “Sure,” was Beth’s response. He said we had a couple of options, but the quickest way down was to slide on our rear ends for the half mile return trip. Beth was all over that. She was prepared, having worn a nylon pair of pants which would make the perfect surface for a fast trip down the mountain. I was not so prepared, wearing a pair of denim blue jeans. We walked over to the trail from which we had ascended and Beth immediately sat down and began her descent, whooping and hollering, having the time of her life.Not wanting to get my jeans soaking wet, I began walking down the mountain.
After about five steps, it became apparent that walking was not feasible given the angle of descent and the slippery conditions. So, like Beth, I sat down and began my slide. The denim material slowed my progress, but it sure was a lot faster than walking and a whole lot more fun. It was just like a water slide with curves and banked turns and very fast. Beth and I were like two school kids on our favorite sled riding hill. Who knew getting down a mountain could be so much fun. When we reached the bottom of the steep portion of the descent, we had to finish by walking about a half mile. The temperature had warmed up and the snow on the lower portion of the mountain was getting a bit slushy. It made for a tricky walk.At the bottom of the hill, we ran into a volunteer park worker and we shared our experience on getting down the mountain. “Oh, so you were glissading, were you?” she said. “What’s glissading?” we asked. She told us it’s a mountaineering term for sliding down a snow covered mountain on your rear end. It sure sounds impressive. And it was. And it was also the most fun we have had to date on our trip. We absolutely loved it. Beth said it would almost be worth another climb to the top just to be able to slide down again. We didn’t reclimb the mountain.
Our pants and underpants were soaked from the slide, so we headed to our car to change. There in the parking lot of Mt. Rainier, Beth and I took turns holding a towel up so each of us could switch into dry clothes, from underwear out. It was another Beverly Hillbillies moment as we discreetly as possible disrobed and dressed without being arrested for indecent exposure. It’s amazing what you can do when you have to.
We had lunch at our car, and marveled at the fun we had in climbing up an sliding down Mount Rainier. We never would have guessed this day would turn out to be so enjoyable. To top it off, we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky which made for absolutely gorgeous pictures to capture our epic day.
It’s really funny that sometimes in life, the things that you least expect can bring you so much joy. We hope you too find some joy in unexpected places.
The experience at Mount Rainier is going to be hard to beat. We will see what surprises North Cascades holds when we arrive there next.