Kautz Creek Snowshoe — Friday, Dec. 25, 2015

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

The Park opened late-- we showed up on time hoping to snowshoe close to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground but with the park not opening until after 11:30am we set a turnaround time of 2pm, knowing we wouldn't even get close. We were the first on this trail since a significant snowfall. I stepped from the road into the snow where the sign for the "Viewpoint" is and immediately fell up to my waist in snow and had to swim my way out. Yup. We tried again in our snowshoes with far more success. It was typical to sink at least 12" into the snow and often up to our knees even in snowshoes. We broke trail through the widest gap in the trees. We cleared snow from many bent-over trees across the trail so they could pop back upright. Some of the trees were definitely "down", requiring detours or climbing around. We reached the crossing of Kautz Creek a bit after 1pm, slow going of about a mile/hour for us in these conditions. The stream crossing looked very annoying--- lots of snow over huge boulders and logs-- so we decided to call it "lunch" and turn around from here. Branches were falling from trees and snow fell all around us. We'd recommend waterproof jackets. Two couples were hiking in to camp. We aren't sure if that was a good idea with the falling branches, but we didn't say anything other than that we'd cleared the trail for them.