Decided to make a loop hike of (mostly) stretches of trail I hadn't done yet. Started out at trailhead just beyond the second Reflection Lake. Two guys had tripods set up near the lake taking photos. Was a bit foggy, not much views yet, but they were probably looking for birds/wildlife. Headed up for upper Lakes Trail. Fall colors out now. Headed back south at junction and crossed road. Was now on Wonderland Trail and soon began descending. Switchbacked down to Paradise River and back up to Narada Falls. Falls can be viewed by short walk from road, but this was better excercise. Saw a few people who had walked down from parking lot. From falls headed north and crossed main road. Then looped back toward Reflection Lakes. On south side of lake is where the impressive reflective mt photos you see are from. Too cloudy today. However, a brief break in the clouds produced a partial mt view. Weather still holding out for hiking but probably not too much longer? Decided to have lunch at Longmire Inn Restaurant. Decent food but a bit pricey but worth checking out at least once.

Today was another amazing day on Tahoma (aka Mt Rainier) for myself, Don, Kay and Lesley The forecast was for light snow in the morning and clouds in the afternoon. It wasn’t going to storm heavily, we’d already had some amazing days, so we were happy just be up there in gentle conditions (between making her own weather, avalanches, floods/lahars, and just blowing her top, [she is after all an active volcano] any trip we come back alive from is a good one.) The lady Tahoma gave us a very light “peek” and then she was gone. We parked at Narada Falls and slogged up the Paradise River to the junction with the unplowed road. The view from the avalanche slope above Narada falls was awesome as usual We then backtracked and headed towards the junction with Mazama Ridge. Of course, Pinnacle was not going to show its self but the view from Mazama Ridge was spectacular!!! We continued on, and finally found the group from NWHikers. (I’ll let you guys name everyone in the picture) It was awesome to finally put some faces to screen names. (including, but not lmited to: Schmidt Altitude, Schmidt Altidude, WAmountain girl, Action Betty, Tazz, and others (if I forgot you, it’s nothing personal, we went out for margaritas after the trip. Mark (who I already know from TNAB, Dicey and Magellan were out skiing so we missed them. Rumor has it there was (ski) pole dancing and LICKING… sounds like they had a wild night; maybe next time I won’t already be committed to something else and will have stories to tell. We made the trek across the rest of Mazama Ridge (longer than we thought) around the other side of paradise and then dropped down to Stevens Canyon. Pinnacle finally showed its self as we were getting ready to drop down to the other side of the ridge. We had a lovely lunch overlooking Paradise; the camp robbers wasted no time in finding us And the lady decided to show herself to us After (fighting for our) lunch, we headed down to the Stevens Canyon Road (unplowed and off camber) and headed back down to Narada Falls As we headed back down, she put on her hat (lenticular cloud_. By the time we hit the parking lot at Narada Falls, she had completely shrouded herself in clouds, and we never saw here again. We got very lucky on the weather and visibility today. Mileage: 6.24 Elevation gain 1,505 (partially gained and lost several times) It was an awesome day!!! We are so lucky to have this as our backyard (OK, days like this are why we don’t off ourselves in the winter) The rest of the piccies are available here (Lisa’s photobucket album for this trip until her new DNS is resolved) http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i250/awildcelticrose/Mazama%20Ridge%200208/ ~L

We headed for Paradise on an absolutely gorgeous extra-crispy day, topped with an intense blue sky. Finding Longmire gates closed until 11 am, our group of eleven opted to start moving & head for the Nisqually River instead of waiting for access to our planned snowshoe to Panorama Point. Our plans changed again at the river & we continued on the Wonderland trail, having lunch & turning around at Carter Falls. No problems at all on this enjoyable day. We later heard the gate opened shortly before 11 am and were surprised not to encounter more snowshoers.

~ “Play me that mountain music” barely beat out “Great balls of fire” for today’s song (hiking on an active volcano would have made that one appropriate as well) Please don’t hate me for the John Denver in your head; just thank your lucky stars that I didn’t go for Rocky Mountain High (having lived in the Rockies I could get away with it in the Cascades but decided not to) Actually, today was so spectacular that I’m working on my own song about it. (I may ask my favorite Wench Megs to collaborate on the musical arrangement) Before we even got on the road, my phone rang and Jim said, ‘Can you get out to where you can see the mountain?” I could, but it would be a bit of a walk, and I was standing in my living room in my underwear, so it was a “no”. He was giggling hysterically and said that there was a rather “malformed” lenticular cloud and it looked like a giant sperm was attacking the mountain. That pretty well set the tone for the day. We made a quick run by my ATM and Starbucks for the required Peppermint hot chocolate and he didn’t see how I was going to snowshoe over that ridge when I could barely walk. (aside from missing a good portion of the skin off of both of my feet which still hurts like heck; I’ve given myself “reverse” shin splints from walking on the outside edges of my feet to avoid my blistered arches and the outside of my calves are in agony) NOTHING was keeping me off of that mountain today. The roads were icy from the park entrance up to Narada Falls, but since we haven’t had any recent snow in the last day or two, the gate was open when we got there around 10:00 AM. The best day to head up to an area like this is the day after a three day weekend, the roads are well plowed and driven and the trails are well tromped. With a predicted “high” of 22 (F) (that’s MINUS 5.6 Celsius) did I mention that was the HIGH? We knew the roads would be brutal so we opted to head up a bit later after the sun had come up. When we arrived it was likely closer to the low of 10 (F) (that’s MINUS 12.2 Celsius) The restrooms at Narada Falls are at the “comfort station” and are blessedly heated. We headed up the Narada Falls trail, avoiding the popular avalanche slope approach. Several people were skiing or snowshoeing up the approach, but given the avalanche forecast (we were in the transition zone between moderate and considerable danger) and the wind loading I had seen from down below, I wasn’t taking any unnecessary chances. We had an alternate route (Mazama Ridge) and we took it. I did sneak over to the edge of the avalanche zone above the falls for a few pictures of the Tatoosh Range (ah the memories of my epic 15 hour traverse a couple of years ago) but then we turned away from inspiration point and took the ridge route. It was a spectacular day: crisp air, powder snow and about the bluest sky you will ever see here. Tahoma (the real name of Rainier) makes her own weather and refused to get fully undressed for us. She wore a bit of lenticular cloud (of her own making) all day long. That’s just the way she is. You have to love her. The climb up Mazama Ridge was not so bad, and the view from “Inspiration Pass’ was phenomenal. Reflection Lake is nothing to write home about in the winter; it’s really nothing other than an open snow covered place to say you went to. We arrived to wind and bitter cold and decided that we’d scurry back towards the ridge, trees and sun for our lunch. We ambled back towards Narada taking more pictures and tied to help some misguided would be backcountry skier from California (if the Park Service does not find his carcass somewhere, it will be a miracle) and then headed towards home. We stopped off at Christine Falls, which was badly lit for photography. I deleted my falls photos (I’ll take more when I have decent light) but got some decent icicle shots. The mountain was of course, beautiful on the way home The rest of the pictures are available here http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/reflectionsnow0108.html New adventures (weather/road/avalanche dependent) next weekend. ~L

I snow shoed from Narada Falls to Reflection Lakes on Monday, Jan. 21st. Bill had to go out of town for work and I decided it was such a beautiful day and I had to go to Mt. Rainier. I headed up the well marked trail behind the Warming Hut 1/2 mile to the intersection above the parking lot. When I reached the next intersection, I chose to go left up Mazama Ridge to avoid the steep avalanche slope you must cross under on the easier flat route to Reflection Lakes. I enjoyed the hike up Mazama Ridge to Reflection Lakes. There is a nice view of Mt. Rainier when you crest, before heading back down toward the lakes. It was clear, sunny and very, very pretty but it was about 20 degrees with a fierce wind so I did not stay long at the lake--ate my lunch and headed back to my car. It took my 1 1/2 hours each way. Jane Habegger