Parked just below the gate right off Hwy 7. This was pretty much a walk up a steep gravel road. The road was wide and moss covered meandering up the hill through the trees, so it didn't feel so much like a road. You could hear highway noise most of the way, but at times, the sound of running water was a good distraction. There were a couple spur roads along the way, which we took just to see - just one had views. As we continued up, every once in awhile we would turn around and see part of Rainier. We figured the views from the top had to be better. And they were. The road ended at 1.75 miles then turned into a bootpath continuing for about 0.2 brushy miles. Once we got to the base of Mineral Rock, we saw all the climbing hardware heading up the face. We took the steep, sandy path to the right. It felt like we were cartoon characters spinning our wheels without getting anywhere. Then we scrambled up a fissure, using a downed log and whatever else we could grab to get up on top.
Awesome views! Rainier was free of the clouds that obscured it as we drove in, and even on the way up. We had an expansive view of the Nisqually Valley below.
We headed back down wondering if the car had been left alone. When we parked, there was broken glass on the ground. Thankfully, everything was good.
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