Watch out for potholes on the gravel Forest Road 42 coming up from the valley. A wonderful sunny day on the trail, not too warm, a bit buggy. I got a pretty late start (1:15 pm) so the trail was nice and slushy in parts when I reached the start of snow about a mile from the trailhead. I had good solid boots along and met lots of not-too-happy folks wearing sneakers and other similar shoes (as another trip report commented on). Had to walk through shallow puddles in some parts, and the snow-covered parts were slippery, with edging in it was pretty straightforward to climb up. Didn't use my poles on the way up, but found them helpful to maintain balance on the way down. Relatively calm at the top with clouds moving in and out, Mt. Rainier played peek-a-boo. Met a few folks who tried the alternate rock scrambling route starting about a half-mile below the top (the yellow-dot marked trail heads up to the left from the main trail). Apparently it is fairly rough, and a couple of the folks who came up on it decided to go down the snow route. Overall a very nice day on the trail.
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