Narada Falls, Mazama Ridge Snowshoe — Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

Glancing at the reports today (02-01-06), it seems that most of the other folks on this trail Sunday were WTA folks....although I certainly don't remember lagging behind while others broke the trail. My recollection is a little different! :-) My wife and I slept in in the morning, and left the city around 8:30 AM - got to Rainier right in time for the road opening at 11:00 AM. We planned to go to Reflection Lakes from Narada Falls, and got on the trail at about 12:15 PM. The snow was dumping like crazy! It was awesome! The lower part of the trail was in good shape through the trees, but once we hit the upper road, the trail was gone. We had to break trail (to the knees) for a few hundred yards or so, before Satuday's trail showed up again near the trees on Mazama Ridge. We walked up to the ridge saddle, and sat down for lunch. Dug a nice pit with a shelf and hung out in the woods for almost an hour. We were out of the wind, and it was a great time. Visited with a passerby who was heading up the ridge to Paradise - a tough trip on this day. We headed back to Narada (saving the lakes for another day) and saw that our path had been halfway filled in with fresh snowfall. It was really coming down! A nice downhill stroll to the car, and then to Longmire for an early dinner. It was a great day.