[adam]

went up rainbow ridge on thurs/fri. This has to be one of the shortest trips into the alpine/subalpine zone around. Road 1130 is totally snow free. The 100 hikes guide says that the trailhead is at 9.4 miles, we had it at 9.6, but it's sort of beside the point since it's the end of the road (information that would have been more useful in the book). Park at the end of the road, which is a bit of a T, with the parking lot being one arm. Hike the other arm, which is a spur road, for a 100 yards or so until it ends, then the unofficial trail picks up obviously. The first third was melted out, the second third mixed, and the last third and the ridge itself a snow walk. Keeping the trail was no problem-- obvious tracks in the snow. We camped about half way between where the trail reaches the ridge, and the triangular peak between the ridge and mt. baker. We attempted to climb that peak-- the obvious way is to go left around cliff bands, then cut back right. We tried a shortcut that cut up a gully through the cliff bands to the right. It went through, but without ice axes the steep snow above a cliff on top seemed dicey (it would have been no problem with axes though), so we turned around. Presumably the route to the left went through with no problem, but we were too lazy to keep investigating. Camp had great sunset views of Shuksan, and sunrise of baker. All in all, it was 2 hours up, one down, all at a slow pace with view breaks. I've been to both lake ann and boulder ridge (which rainbow ridge is in between). I think both are a little nicer, but it was nice to see somewhere new, and not even lake ann compares for quick access.

[adam]

here are pictures from camp- shuksan at sunset, baker at sunrise. The point in the shadows directly below the peak of baker is the "peak" that I mentioned in my original post.

shuksan sunset small

baker sunrise small