Kautz Creek Snowshoe — Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

2015 greeted us with a perfect bluebird day, so we had to take advantage of it. A friend and I decided on a snowshoe hike at Mount Rainier National Park. We had initially planned to do the Reflection and Louise Lakes trail, but the ranger at the Nisqually entrance informed us that the road to Paradise was very icy in sections and we didn't have snow chains. Apparently, all vehicles (including all wheel drive vehicles) are required to have chains past Longmire. There are checkpoints throughout the park where you will be turned around and potentially fined for not having them, so beware! I had assumed that there was an exception for all wheel drive vehicles, but no such luck. A few miles inside the park, the Longmire General Store sells snow chains, but due to the holiday, the park had a lot of visitors also looking to buy chains. They were out of many sizes, including ones that would fit my Subaru. So make sure to remember your snow chains if you're going past Longmire! You can also rent them at Whittaker's near the Nisqually entrance if you don't want to buy them. We quickly changed our plans and decided instead to do the Kautz Creek snowshoe which is maybe a mile from Longmire heading back toward the park entrance. You'll find a designated parking area for the trail with restrooms. Cross the road and follow the signs for the trailhead. We had a late start in the morning, so we didn't start hiking until about 11:30. The first mile of trail is easy going with intermittent snow. We carried our snowshoes at first, but needed them at about 2.5 miles in when the snow gets much deeper. As the temperature warmed throughout the day, snow in the trees began to melt and it felt like it was raining on us at times. We wound up getting soaked, so I recommend bringing a goretex layer and maybe even a change of clothes for the car ride home. The trail is quite a workout with its steep switchbacks and heavy snow. We were't tracking our mileage, but we think we went approximately 3.5 miles from the trailhead making for a roundtrip hike of 7 miles. We really wanted to get to the 4 miles mark to catch a view of Rainier, but we were both feeling tired from the continuous climbing. We also wanted to allow for enough time to get back to the car in the daylight. We found a little clearing to have a late lunch where we could gaze upon beautiful snow-covered hills and trees. After lunch we headed back down, leaving our snowshoes on most of the way for added traction. Although this was not our first choice today, we were not disappointed. The blanket of snow made the surroundings simply magical. Our only regret is that we didn't start this hike earlier in the day so we could've seen the amazing views that appear around mile 4. We'll be back! What a great way to start the new year.