It was an absolutely perfect day in Paradise!  The road up was mostly bare with a couple of icy spots in the shade. The trail is well packed and easy to follow. Most people were just wearing boots including myself. Unless you want to go trailblazing, I highly recommend boots with traction rather than snowshoes until there's more snow. I saw some people going up in jeans and sneakers with no gear or even water :/ I decided to skip Panorama point since I got kind of a late start, but I'm pretty sure people were doing that in boots as well. The descent from Panorama point is no joke -  people were having to scoot down on their butts. I saw a few skiers even though there's no real powder yet.

There are some nice flat rocks to sit on near Glacier Vista. It's a really incredible view with not only the Nisqually glacier and Tahoma, but also the Tatoosh, Mt. Adams and Mt. St Helens. I stopped there to have lunch and not a single person passed me. Ahhhhh - I love how quiet Paradise is in the winter

I highly recommend this hike/snowshoe for a short, relatively easy traipse in a winter wonderland. It took me about an hour and a half each way - but I am reallly slow thanks to janky knees. . I passed a couple going up to do wedding photos on my way down - so cool. Heads up the gate to Longmire closes at 5!

PS. I saw these tracks near Glacier Vista - do any of you lovely hikers know what they are?

5/27/2023: A pleasant snowshoe up to Glacier Vista. LOTS of people out on this Memorial Day Saturday! The upper & lower parking lots were full by 8:30 or 9am. Many climbers were headed up to Camp Muir and eventual summit attempt. The snow was firm in the morning, and many climbed in just their boots, some had microspikes. In the afternoon the surface snow was soft, and I was glad to be wearing snowshoes.

At least 3 parties - all who appeared to be experienced hikers - mentioned that the east side of Alta Vista was treacherous, it took them a long time to navigate the route due to ice and sliding snow. Three folks in one party lost balance and slid a long ways down and had to climb back up. This area is high avalanche danger, so the NPS recommends traveling on the west side of Alta Vista.

The usual afternoon clouds started drifting in and obscured the route, so I didn't attempt Panorama Point. Instead I hung out in the bowl at the base of Panorama Point just enjoying the stunning scenery - can never get enough of it! 

Note that "Marmot Hill" and other areas (including the east side of Alta Vista) are starting to melt out, and pasqueflowers are emerging! Visitors are encouraged to stay off the melted-out meadow (which looks like plain dirt right now) - it is very fragile and footsteps kill the flowers. As the NPS says, Paradise meadows "grow by the inch and die by the foot." Please stay on trail (where it is visible) or stay on the snow or rocks - don't walk on the "dirt"! That will leave more flowers for everyone to enjoy. Thanks! 

There were hoards of people playing in the snow below Alta Visita in the afternoon - many said it was their first time seeing snow. It was fun to watch their immense pleasure. Lots of folks visiting from the southern US and from around the world. 

The brilliant sun reflecting off the snow sure leads to easy sunburns! Despite applying zinc based sunscreen with 2 additional applications - I still had a red face and a small triangle sunburn above my nose. Fortunately, by wearing 2 layers of sunglasses I didn't burn my eyes. I was glad the rest of me was completely covered up (including sun gloves). However, lots of folks were out on the snow wearing shorts and T-shirts and no sunglasses - yikes! 

After comparing the conditions at Rainier to those up by Mt. Baker, we chose to snowshoe at Paradise. The road was icy in spots, but we luckily had AWD and did not need chains. We arrived at the Lingmire gate before it opened, and got to have a bonus hike around Trail of the Shadows. Peaceful and a great way to warm up and test out gear. 
The sky was clear and bright blue by the time we arrived at the Paradise lot. We had planned to snowshoe to Panorama Point, but after talking to a ranger and considering the limitations of our group’s avalanche preparedness, opted to end at Glacier Vista instead. Snowshoes seemed necessary - the snow was powdery and over  ten feet deep. Encountered plenty of skiers and snowshoes on the trail- it’s not the spot for a solitary experience- but didn’t feel crowded. Views in every direction were incredible for nearly the whole way up. We lunched at Glacier Vista and were reminded that sitting in the wind is much colder than snowshoeing uphill. Recommend lots of layers. By the time we started heading down, snow was falling, the sky has turned grey, and soon the top of Tahoma was no longer visible. It was a little difficult to choose the correct route because of all the footpaths hikers had created, but I never felt in danger of truly getting lost. Great way to spend a sunny winter day! 

Snow along the sides of the road started before the Nisqually entrance-all 2WD cars had to chain up from there. The entire drive up to Paradise was a winter wonderland. I was already super happy with the trip. I hit Nisqually Vista first thing like I usally do. Weather was off in the distance so I wanted views first. I love this little trail. Some people were not sure if they were on the right trail. If you're coming from the main lot, just before the backup lot there is a trail to the right. Often there is a post with an orange sign that says "trail." You can go right through the trees and get a forest feel or go up and to the left and have the Tatoosh range in your face. They meet up in a few minutes. Before you know it, you're at the vista; a roped off section and the big fat view of the Nisqually and mountain will be your clue you made it. Turn around and see it all in reverse as this is not a loop right now. After a snack and change of socks-very much needed after a tiny miscalculation of how much space I had to kneel down to get a cool picture and landed in a couple feet of snow, I hit Skyline/Panorama Point/Glacier Vista...whatever. I went up up up with a bunch of people who did not have any gear at all. I got cranky. My bad. Set your expectations; people are going to tear up the path with tons of post holing, they are not going to yield, and they are going to sled. I got over being cranky (mostly...one guy was not nice), and loved that the weather turned and the second hike was all about gloomy skies and SNOW! I don't think I made it all the way to Glacier Vista. The chill was starting to set in with the blowing wet snow and the mountain was disappearing along with the Tattoosh Range. Happy winter hiking!

Absolutely wonderful day and perfect conditions. We wavered a bit with the weather forecast this morning as it changed but we looked at the webcam and decided to come anyway. Bluebird day, zero clouds, temps were very comfortable and we were very toasty in the sun. Definitely dress in layers, lots of people ditched their big coats. Roads going up were a little icy, happy to be in a 4Runner. Parking lot was pretty full but we still were able to find a spot, not too crazy out there which was nice. Trail never felt crowded. We each were carrying a baby/toddler so we had heavy packs, and it was definitely snowshoe worthy (snow not crunchy) though we did have crampons. Poles were nice to have as there is a bit of a climb right away. Didn’t go all the way to the top but didn’t feel like we needed to - views were stunning and as always we enjoyed snowshoeing here. So so glad we finally got good conditions on a weekend!