Mount Rainier Summit Attempt
Trip Notes

Mt Rainier as seen from Paradise

Wednesday, June 2, 2004:
It took us about 7 hours to drive from Mt Hood to Yakima, Washington, where we slept in a hotel for the night.  On the way there we were looking for a place to stop and have something to eat but restaurants sure were few and far between.  After spending the night in Yakima we went the rest of the way to Paradise.  We then got our hiking pass and went to Cougar Rock campground which is about 11 miles west of the Visitor Center at Mt Rainier.

Thursday, June 3, 2004:
We got up at 5:30am, had breakfast and packed up.  As we already had our permits we geared up and set out from the parking lot at 8:30am.  Robert's pack weighed just over 50lb and mine was just over 40lb.  The weather was warm and sunny with only wisps of cloud.

Jane with a cloud covered Mount Rainier in the background.

It was a long hard trudge up to Camp Muir.  We met many people coming down and there were several on their way up with us.  We kept on thinking that the hill had to flatten out at some stage, but what looked like a ridge was always only a little lull in the steepness, and then more steepness to follow.  There was never a flat area where we could have some relief from walking uphill.

The red dot shows where Camp Muir is located.

We got to Camp Muir (10,188ft) at 2:45pm, after 6 hours and 15 minutes of uphill.  At this time there was some cloud over the summit but it was generally clear.  We found a snow bunker which was about 4 feet deep that someone had dug and vacated that morning.  We were fortunate to get it as the wind was blowing and it offered some relief from the wind.

Robert in the bunker melting snow to make drinking water.

Robert started making water from snow soon after we arrived.  I pitched the tent and went to bed.  At around 4pm the ranger came by to say we might have to collapse our tent and pile snow on top of it as a helicopter might have to land at Muir with people who got hurt on the mountain.  Fortunately the helicopter didn't show up so we lay in the tent trying to get some sleep.  Our plan was to leave for the summit by 10pm.

We had dinner at 8pm and got our gear ready, then lay down again to wait for the alarm to ring.  Robert didn't hear the alarm at 9:30pm but I woke up at 10:10pm and roused him.  We got up and started getting our gear together when Robert said that he was too tired and wanted to attempt the summit the next night.  I was ready to head up as I had had more time to rest than him, but it's no good having a tired leader so we went back to bed.

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Mt Hood -
1st Attempt

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