Our first overnight hike of the season: There are some real advantages to winter camping.... trails that are packed with hikers (and bugs) in summer are quiet and bug free in winter. Hikers need pack in only a few miles to find solitude.

Our hike took us from the parking area at Narada Falls(el. 4700 ft.) following the orange markers from the maintainance buildings, and winding through the trees, intersecting with the main road/trail (el. 4850 ft.). During periods of high avalanche hazard avoid the route heading toward Inspiration Point. Instead, take the ""back"" route to Reflection Lake. Either way is only about 1 1/2 miles, gaining about 300 feet. We continued for another 1 1/2 miles to Lake Louise. We set up camp on a knoll at the east end of Lake Louise overlooking the lake with views to the north of Mt.Rainier, and to the south of The Castle and Pinnacle Peak. We were fortunate enough to have a nice break in the weather with bright sunshine and some high clouds.

After stomping out our camp site, setting up the tent, and getting ourselves organized, we back tracked to the east end of Reflection Lake where we set a northerly direction toward Mazama Ridge. After crossing a flat area we came across a group of hikers, maybe scouts, carving out some snow caves. The route then starts climbing with the last pitch up to the ridge getting very steep. But, we dug in the cleats of our snowshoes and climbed up to the ridge (el. 5600 ft.) where we were rewarded with awesome views looking up Mazama Ridge with Mt. Rainier in the background.

This trip enabled us to try some tips for keeping warm that we learned from ""Winter Hiking and Camping"", by Michael Lanza.

Distance: 9 1/2 miles Verticle: 1500 ft Time to Lake Louise: 1 1/2 hours