Bench and Snow Lakes — Saturday, Jun. 6, 1998

Mount Rainier Area > SE - Cayuse Pass/Stevens Canyon

With a beautiful Saturday forecasted, we decided to head up the Snow Lake trail to Unicorn Peak. Thunder and lightning sent us scurrying like marmots under attack from snowballs last time we tried to get up Unicorn. [;)] This time things looked better! The trail is completely under snow from the minute you get out of your car (assuming you get out of your car in early June.) The way up to Snow Lake is easy enough though, snow or no snow. We made it up to the lake in about 45 minutes, just in time to see an squadron of Mountaineers coming up the valley in double time! We headed off up the chute above the lake, taking advantage of the wonderful steps the party somewhere ahead of us provided. The snow conditions were just right... not too hard, not too soft. We managed to stay just ahead of the squadron, enjoying the beautiful blue sky and the huge mountain over our shoulder. Occasional breaks were taken to reapply sunblock and gobble Cookies 'n Cream Clif Bars. (You gotta try 'em... you won't believe that they're good for you!) About 3 hours and 15 minutes after we left the car, we were on one of the several false summits just south of the ""true"" peak of Unicorn. We decided to claim one of the smaller summits as our own, since we knew the squadron of Moutaineers would soon be attacking the main summit block. We had our lunch, enjoying the 360 degree view, amazed at how much snow is still up in the high country. Goat Rocks still look pretty white! We watched as all the gear and extra luggage came out at the base of the true summit, and decided our little summit was worth leaving the extra 13 lbs of gear at home! The clouds started moving in, so we decided to head back down. It took about 1-1/2 hours to get back to the car for a total round trip of about 5 miles. Round trip mileage to the Lake and back is about 2-1/2 miles. Just a couple notes of caution from an anal retentant safety person: If you're going up to the top of Unicorn, when you head up to the summit area from the last chute, stay on the south side of the false summit area. (Stay right!) A lot of people seemed to head straight for the summit block, along the north side of the false summit area. While it's all just a snow hike, the runout along the north side if one should slip is pretty ugly. Rock bands, cliffy stuff, ouchy terrain. While the south route may be a wee bit longer (a few hundred yards!) the runout is much safer. Also... this is NOT the time of year to walk out on that pile of snow and look over the edge to see if its a cornice! Let's all stay safe out there and not see each other's names in the paper.