Mt. Rainier: Panorama Point

[tempe8]

Mt. Rainier: Panorama Point

In Seattle for the week, we flew up early over the weekend and promptly drove down to Rainier to see it up close. After climbing Shasta in 2000, I was smitten by the high altitude mountaineering bug and vowed to climb Mt. Rainier next. But due to it's distance from Phoenix; vacation, money, and time always seemed to foil any plans to summit the big mountain. A chance business trip that was sprung on me only 2 days prior though was at least my opportunity to get to the mountain and take in it's beauty in person.

My plan was to hike up the standard route that the climbers use as they head towards Camp Muir as base camp. There are excellent trails that start around the visitor centers on the South side and they all seem to criss-cross each other allowing one to pick and chose the length and type of hike you'd like. We chose to hike the Alta Vista trail up to a place called Panorama Point, at which point the real climbers would begin to head over the Muir Snowfield to their camp.

The hike started out in typical National Park fashion as an asphalt trail perfectly groomed for hundreds of visitors at a time. After a quarter mile or so the trail turns into dirt as the asphalt veers off into a short loop hike. The mountain at this elevation was absolutely lush with vegetation, hills full of purple and yellow wildflowers, filling in the spaces between pine and fir trees. Summertime brings snow melt from the top and flowing streams of water to the valleys creating cascading waterfalls.

As you get closer to Panorama Point your elevation is roughly 6800' and the trees begin to thin out due to the temperature and soil extremes on the face of this glaciated volcano. Once at Panorama point you've got a great view to the South and West of the valley below and other great mountains in the distance. Mount Hood stands out as a similar snow capped giant in the distance. Mt. St. Helens is unmistakable to the south west, the size of the leveled off base indicating how great the mountain once was before it blew its top.

As you turn to the north, you're greeted by almost another 8000' vertical feet of Mt. Rainier, the steep top sections covered in snow and ice. The icy glaciers around the top of the mountain are normally covered with snow, but this late in the summer the top layer has been mostly melted off so you can just catch a glimpse of the blue color underneath.

For the return hike, we could easily see the visitors center and all the trails that criss-crossed the base so we just took off on a trail that winded it's way down, east of Panorama Point. We had to cross a small slope covered in snow which was exciting for someone who normally only sees cactus in his hikes. Half way to the bottom, in the small valley next to our trail, a stream was flowing down through the rocks and shrubs. Near here we saw a Marmot foraging around, not concerned with us at all. Very near the bottom of the trail, one runs in to the Myrtle Falls, a beautiful cascade of snowmelt falling over rocks and boulders down about 75'. Being so close to the visitor center, these falls were a popular stop and it was quite crowded so we moved on.

Back in the car, I couldn't help but look back up at the towering faces of the mountain, wondering when I'll get to come back with more time, preparation, and gear...so I can finally climb to the top.

[Shihiyea]

Thank you so much for sharing this experience. I was supposed to be on the Wunderland trail this week. I'm glad, that you were able to have the experience. This is still very much on my To Do LIST! My goal was to go around the mountain, not up it. I don't want it to be a technical climb. Mary
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C. Myss

[jmzblond]

When I lived up there, I used to ski on Mt. Rainier all the time. Beautiful place... I miss it!!
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[Davis2001R6]

It's on my to do list for next year.

[tempe8]

I left Seattle yesterday afternoon and positioned myself on the left side of the plane knowing that we would be flying right by Rainier. Shortly after we took off to our stop over in Salt Lake, I could see Rainier in the distance through some interspersed light clouds. As the captain announced us at 10,000' and we could use our electronics, the plane climbed through a thin layer of clouds that obscured my view to Rainier. Then a few minutes later we broke out of the cloud layer and I began searching for the mountain...surely it was right next to us by now...how could such a giant have disappeared in the clouds so quickly?

Then I noticed an odd shaped cloud directly left of our plane. It wasn't fluffy and cotton like the other clouds, this one was perfectly smooth and dome shaped. I realized it was a cloud formation over Rainiers summit! I'd seen pictures of the lenticular clouds before, but never from above and never live in person. Then almost on cue, the pilot dipped the left wing and cut a gentle arc across the SE flank of the mountain, at an estimated altitude of 20,000 feet. The clouds being spotty as they were, I could see the lower base almost all the way to the summit, all the craggy rock outcroppings intermixed with the white snow borders. I quickly tried to study some major rock features, things I could reference when I got back to my topo map and could try to identify. A few seconds later, the wings leveled off and Rainier began to fade into the distance as we cruised SE.

Truly a beautiful way to cap off my week in Seattle and my quest to see Rainier up close...at least until I can climb to it's top!

[Shihiyea]

I can't wait to see it close up too! Thanks for sharing. I was supposed to be flying back from Rainier today! I wish that the trip had worked out for me. Maybe next time! Mary

[pfredricks]

Great trip and thanks for the write up.

Tim and I are planning to do a summit attempt next year. Maybe we can all get together and support each other in this endeavor.

I hope you have some pictures to post.
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"I am just going outside and may be some time."- Explorer Oates' last words before crawling out of his tent in -40 C temps. Sacrificed himself so as not to hold back his 1912 South Pole expedition teamates.

[tempe8]

I've got some pics I can post, but how do I do it? I went to the gallery page but didn't see any options to load up..."new album" doesn't appear to be available to me. I'm off to Mexico for the weekend, maybe next week.

[mike]

[tempe8]

Ok, pictures are finally up in the gallery!