The objectives for the day were Unicorn Peak, Boundary Peak and Stevens Peak via the Snow Lake trail at Mount Rainier. I got a bit of a late start from home, so didn't leave the TH until around 10:30. The trail to Snow Lake is quick and easy, depositing you at trail's end at the talus slope leading through the gully and into the upper basin. At the 6600' col I traversed around the south side and climbed the 2nd gully to the upper ridge.

When I first saw the summit block I thought "Wow, that's small." Unfortunately, the scramble routes on the southern end of the block proved more than I wanted to tackle alone. I have heard people talk about a Class 3 scramble, but that's not what I was seeing. I poked around for awhile, but finally turned tail and head to Boundary.

Boundary is a quick, easy stroll from Unicorn. The clouds were starting to roll in on the way to the Boundary. What had started as a blazing morning, was turning into a gray, Cascade day. From Boundary I followed the ridge down until I came to a 30' drop, which I bypassed on the right by dropping down a gully. I dropped off the ridge towards Stevens at around 6100'. The flowers along the saddle were spectacular, especially as the clouds started creating dew drops. I stayed on the southern slope until past the cliffs and then angled up toward the summit. The clouds pretty quickly obscured the views at this point, but not before I got a couple of frames off.

The route back was uneventful, though finding the right gully down to the col took a couple of stabs in the thick clouds. The drizzle turned more aggressive right as I got back to the van.

Stats: 4300' gain, 9 hours RT