This past Sunday I headed up to Camp Muir, and overall it turned into a really memorable trip. Megan and I had originally planned on doing Mount Adams, but weather had other ideas.
I picked Megan up around 6:00 PM Saturday evening and we drove south toward Rainier. The weather around Mount Adams looked pretty rough, with rain moving through a lot of the region, and there really weren’t many appealing camping options down there. We changed plans and decided on a car camping setup off Forest Road 52 below Paradise.
We pulled into a little turnaround area and set up the car as a surprisingly cozy campsite. It was actually a pretty nice setup—until the middle of the night.
I had left one of the windows cracked and apparently that was an open invitation for some tiny woodland criminal to move in. At some point during the night, a mouse—or some sort of little vermin—got into the car and spent the entire night rummaging around. I even woke up once and swear the thing was sitting on my head. I also could have sworn it was talking to us all night.
The next day we discovered the damage: it had broken into Megan’s Oreos and carved out a perfect little crescent-shaped meal. Clearly not its first operation.
Aside from our uninvited guest, it absolutely poured overnight. Still, the car setup worked pretty well.
We woke up around 6:00–7:00 AM and drove up to Paradise. By then the weather had completely transformed. It was a beautiful day—almost no clouds, especially in the morning, with incredible views.
We hit the Skyline Trail around 8:00 AM and started heading toward Camp Muir. Because of the fresh snowfall from the night before, we brought snowshoes. Looking back, we probably could have gotten away with just crampons, but the snowshoes weren’t a bad choice.
The climb up was steady. It took us around six hours total, reaching Camp Muir at approximately 2:00 PM. Conditions up there were fairly cold—probably around 30°F with wind chill.
Camp Muir itself didn’t really look open yet. The toilets were closed and there didn’t seem to be many good tent options on the far side of the saddle. There were still quite a few people moving through the area though. We saw a couple of parties heading for the summit, and later on the descent we even passed a team making their way toward the Kautz Glacier route.
One thing that stood out was how dramatically conditions changed on the way down. Earlier in the day things felt alpine and cold, but descending the snowfield it became surprisingly warm—around 68°F. The snow softened up quite a bit and made for a much easier trip down.
We also got some good practice in while we were up there. We spent some time working on roped glacier travel techniques and learned a little bit of prusik technique, which was nice to get hands-on experience with rather than just reading about it.
The descent only took about three hours. After getting back to the car, we stopped in Tacoma for Taco Bell, recharged the car, and eventually made it back into town around 9:30 PM.
The only real downside of the trip was getting pretty roasted by the sun. I didn’t put enough sunscreen on my cheeks or around my temples, and I also skipped my glacier glasses. A lot of UV reflected off the snow and ended up burning the sides of my eyes and eyelids. I won’t make that mistake again. The buff worked pretty well, though.
Overall, it was a great trip: perfect weather, good snow conditions, some glacier practice, a successful climb to Camp Muir, and one highly motivated Oreo thief.
I picked Megan up around 6:00 PM Saturday evening and we drove south toward Rainier. The weather around Mount Adams looked pretty rough, with rain moving through a lot of the region, and there really weren’t many appealing camping options down there. We changed plans and decided on a car camping setup off Forest Road 52 below Paradise.
We pulled into a little turnaround area and set up the car as a surprisingly cozy campsite. It was actually a pretty nice setup—until the middle of the night.
I had left one of the windows cracked and apparently that was an open invitation for some tiny woodland criminal to move in. At some point during the night, a mouse—or some sort of little vermin—got into the car and spent the entire night rummaging around. I even woke up once and swear the thing was sitting on my head. I also could have sworn it was talking to us all night.
The next day we discovered the damage: it had broken into Megan’s Oreos and carved out a perfect little crescent-shaped meal. Clearly not its first operation.
Aside from our uninvited guest, it absolutely poured overnight. Still, the car setup worked pretty well.
We woke up around 6:00–7:00 AM and drove up to Paradise. By then the weather had completely transformed. It was a beautiful day—almost no clouds, especially in the morning, with incredible views.
We hit the Skyline Trail around 8:00 AM and started heading toward Camp Muir. Because of the fresh snowfall from the night before, we brought snowshoes. Looking back, we probably could have gotten away with just crampons, but the snowshoes weren’t a bad choice.
The climb up was steady. It took us around six hours total, reaching Camp Muir at approximately 2:00 PM. Conditions up there were fairly cold—probably around 30°F with wind chill.
Camp Muir itself didn’t really look open yet. The toilets were closed and there didn’t seem to be many good tent options on the far side of the saddle. There were still quite a few people moving through the area though. We saw a couple of parties heading for the summit, and later on the descent we even passed a team making their way toward the Kautz Glacier route.
One thing that stood out was how dramatically conditions changed on the way down. Earlier in the day things felt alpine and cold, but descending the snowfield it became surprisingly warm—around 68°F. The snow softened up quite a bit and made for a much easier trip down.
We also got some good practice in while we were up there. We spent some time working on roped glacier travel techniques and learned a little bit of prusik technique, which was nice to get hands-on experience with rather than just reading about it.
The descent only took about three hours. After getting back to the car, we stopped in Tacoma for Taco Bell, recharged the car, and eventually made it back into town around 9:30 PM.
The only real downside of the trip was getting pretty roasted by the sun. I didn’t put enough sunscreen on my cheeks or around my temples, and I also skipped my glacier glasses. A lot of UV reflected off the snow and ended up burning the sides of my eyes and eyelids. I won’t make that mistake again. The buff worked pretty well, though.
Overall, it was a great trip: perfect weather, good snow conditions, some glacier practice, a successful climb to Camp Muir, and one highly motivated Oreo thief.
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