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Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Camp Muir
The route to Camp Muir gives hearty hikers a small taste of what alpine climbers experience. The trail stretches high up the flank of Rainier, toward the upper mountain where alpine climbers play. This route isn't for everyone since it does entail substantial snow travel and may require good routefinding skills. But on a clear summer day, hikers in excellent physical condition might consider this most strenuous trek into the world of rock and ice.
Pick a path and head north from the parking lot. It doesn't matter which route you take--keep moving upward, and all trails eventually merge. At 1.5 miles, you pass the viewpoint at Glacier Vista, and 0.3 mile beyond that, you come to a trail fork. To the right is the Panorama Point Trail. Go left to continue your steep climb. In about 0.25 mile, the trail moderates a bit as it moves up through the rocky slopes above Panorama Point. At 2.5 miles, the trail crosses a shallow ford of Pebble Creek and then fades away. From this point forward, the trail is merely a boot track through the snows of the Muir Snowfield. For 2.5 miles, you climb along the face of the snowfield, reaching the rocky spine that houses Camp Muir at 10,000 feet. A couple of rock shelters reside here--one is used as a communal bunkhouse, the other is assigned to the licensed climbing guide service. Turn around here (if not before), making sure you have plenty of time and energy in reserve for the return trek. Use caution descending the snowfield.
Driving Directions:
From Tacoma, drive east on State Route 7 to Elbe, then veer left onto SR 706 to enter the park at the Nisqually Entrance near Ashford. Continue east along the Nisqually Road to the Paradise Lodge parking area. Park in the large parking lot and find the trail near the climbers hut on the north side of the parking lot. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
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A bluebird, cloudless sky brought us down to Mt Rainier to enjoy the day. Camp Muir was our destina...
A bluebird, cloudless sky brought us down to Mt Rainier to enjoy the day. Camp Muir was our destination, but the windy weather aborted our attempt about 1000 feet below Anvil Rock. The wind was reported to be estimated in the 30 mph range sustained, which made the going a bit chilly at times.
The route is still all snow covered right out of the parking lot. We used snowshoes for the first hour or so, then abandoned them when we hit The Big Hill. This route is normally not the true route, but with all the snow...everyone is just going UP as opposed to around. There was a nice boot pack up this hill, so it wasn't too ugly. Some people kept their snowshoes on, but for me personally, that would have made it quite a challenge. The trail is partially wanded now, from about Pan-Point up. There isn't a great boot pack trail from that point up, however, perhaps due to the wind blowing over the snow--there wasn't a lot of post-holing, so we kept to our boots without the snowshoes. Lots of folks were there to ski or board down from Muir, but those who were carrying their skis/boards had a tough time with the wind gusts. We had lunch at our turnaround point, then headed down. We enjoyed a fun glissade down The Big Hill and then put our snowshoes back on. At that point, the wind wasn't as intense, the snow more slushy and post-holing nasty. It was a bit of a slip and slide on occasion even with the snowshoes, but overall, it wasn't bad. Tips for folks who may be venturing up: Always bring hat/gloves/jackets. I know you know that...but it is surprising to see the people who venture up there in clothing that is not conducive to 30 mph winds. All in all, a fun day even though we didn't get to Camp Muir. Next time.... Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
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Friday was a beautiful day for a hike on the mountain. It started out cloudy at 11 am, but the sun s...
Friday was a beautiful day for a hike on the mountain. It started out cloudy at 11 am, but the sun soon broke through. I hiked this exactly one year ago but the colors were completely different. Lots of reds and yellows, not much purple like last year. The hills were crawling with marmots, and lots of whistling! The temperature was perfect; not much wind even on Panorama Point.
Camp Muir
— Sep 16, 2012
— Newman
Day hike
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Hiked up to Came Muir on Sunday morning, departing from Paradise at 8am.
Weather was beautiful, a...
Hiked up to Came Muir on Sunday morning, departing from Paradise at 8am.
Weather was beautiful, and the route was relatively uninhabited by hikers at that point. This was my first visit to Mt. Rainier, and my first attempt up to Camp Muir. I was a little annoyed that none of the trail signs around Paradise specified which of the outbound paths from the TR took you to Muir (also the visitor center and ranger station were closed) - so I guessed that it was the Skyline Trail and was lucky. Fortunately, the path up to Pebble creek was very straightforward (had no idea i'd be spending that much time on pavement and rock steps - not easy on the feet for the start of a hike). Once I hit the snowfield, it was very easy to follow the trail of footprints and glissade chutes up most of the way up to the camp. I arrived at Muir at 11:40 am. The sun was just starting to heat up, and I just began to sweat during the last half-mile (I was just wearing running shorts to keep cool). I enjoyed lunch with a view and headed down at 12:30 pm, after changing into soft-shell pants for the glissading. Now it got HOT. Passed about 100 people on my way down, 90% of them were on their way up, including a dozen or so people with snowboards or skis strapped to their backpacks. The snow became pretty soft by 1:00 and was very slippery - I ate it a few times during my standing/ski glissade. Overall it was a beautiful day and I had a blast. One thing to note: HWY 7 had a long detour that added about 40 minutes to the drip in each direction on the drive from/to Tacoma, so be sure to add that into your calculations when planning a trip out there.
Camp Muir
— Sep 08, 2012
— kash
Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
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Camp muir had been on my list this year but had not had opportunity due to various reasons. Y'day wa...
Camp muir had been on my list this year but had not had opportunity due to various reasons. Y'day was expected to be good be warm and sunny predictions.
We started our hike at 08:30 after a 3 hr drive. We took the skyline trail and reached pebble creek within 1 hr, thats the place wherre the snowfield starts. After that it was a long arduous hike, and this was the first time I was hiking with a heavy backpack, that made it all the more intereesting. :-) Snow is different stages of melting, and by the looks of it, glissading down was pretty much ruled out. Elevation is fairly steady and you need to keep a steady pace. Once on the ridge, and once shelter comes on site, it still took us 30 min to reach. Overall it took 4.30 hrs to reach. There are some soft spots as well, with water running down under, be careful around those areas. Also plenty of crevasses opening up now beyond camp muir. We still glissaded where possible and reached paradise in 2:30 hrs, it would have been far faster had there been enough snow. Overall, I still feel St. Helens hike is more strenuous compared to this. Understand its a 10 miles hike with 4600ft elevation gain. Kash Day hike
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Wanted to get this hike/climb in as quickly as possible given that it might be my last window of opp...
Wanted to get this hike/climb in as quickly as possible given that it might be my last window of opportunity this summer. You never know what the weather is going to do after August is over. Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday, which gave me an even smaller window. After finishing up my shift at midnight Saturday, I drove the two hours to Paradise from Centralia. The night was perfectly clear and I could even see the Milky Way from the overnight parking lot. I tried to catch a quick nap in the back of my SUV but was unable to really get any rest. So I started up Skyline at 0430.
Set a fairly quick pace. A bit of background, I hadn’t really hiked in years until this July. I reacquainted myself with this amazing activity by hiking around Helens and Rainier the past two months, as well as working out every day at home. I wanted to use Muir as a guide to where I really stood as far as being in shape. I missed most of the scenery in the early going due to darkness but was rewarded with an amazing sky full of stars and hardly a soul in sight. I hit the snowfields right at about 7,200 feet as daylight came around. There was an incredible lenticular cloud over the summit of Rainier that literally looked as though it was on fire as the sun hit it. The snow was firm, but not icey and I saw no need to put on my Microspikes as I continued on towards the camp. Here the steepness of the slope increased but was not too severe. This was also my first trip with trekking poles and I have to say, they made a world of difference. About two hours into the climb and perhaps 1500 feet below Muir, the wind started to pick up and the weather on the summit started to turn nasty. I pressed on and was able to make it to Muir by 7:30. The wind was really raging in the camp, and the weather on the summit continued to look more ominous. I snapped a few shots of the Camp (which smells not so pleasant!) and headed back down. I took advantage of the numerous glissading chutes to quickly make my way back down. By the time I hit Skyline, the number of hikers was exploding. At this point, despite the views I had missed earlier, I just wanted to get out of there. By the time I got to the entrance of the park, there was probably a hundred cars waiting to get in!! A fantastic climb nevertheless. Just make sure you are prepared with the proper equipment. I saw one guy traversing the snowfield with basketball shoes on!! But a great conditioning hike for those looking to attempt any of the Cascades. |
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