[Cascade Dave]

The last several weeks I've been concerned that the current snow and weather conditions are some sort of evil, clandestine trick by mother nature to lure us into thinking we're in for a long hiking season. Surely a late season storm will ruin all this early joviality on the trail! (...the pessimist in me, no doubt - however, somehow I think this is no trick!) In the spirit of this anxiety, my sister and I headed out early Saturday morning to hike up to Mowich Lake (4,900) on the Northwest side of Rainier via the Paul Peak Trail (3,700). The gate six miles from Mowich is still closed, of course. Starting around 6:30 in the morning, we headed the 6 miles to Mowich Lake via the Paul Peak Trailhead - 3 miles down and 3 miles up. We dawdled around Crater Creek for picture taking and arrived at Mowich Lake at about 9:00. The trail is pretty dry until just below the lake where the trail crosses Crater Creek. Mowich itself is solid as you'd expect, but there were a couple areas melting out. I'd say there was a foot or two of snow in the open areas around the lake, but there's a ski track that made gaiters a non-issue. We ate lunch at the lake where we were routinely assaulted by Alfred Hitchcock's Camp Robber's - what's new? We took the Grindstone Trail on our way down the Mowich Lake Road, which effectively cut out about 2 miles from the 6 mile return trip (arrived at the car around 12:30). Clear day, great views of Rainier (only from the trail) and only saw one solo overnighter heading up to the lake for the evening. After doing Mt. Beljica last week and Mowich Lake this week, perhaps I'll stop attributing weather conspiracies to the mountains. But maybe one more hike next week will convince me spring is here to stay!

Mowich Lake - Morning Rainier 4

Mowich Lake - Sherry at Crater Creek 1

Mowich Lake - Sherry and Dave 4

Mowich Lake - Sherry Hiking out of Mowich 8

Mowich Lake - Camp Robber

Not really! This 24? year old girl dragged the crew up St. Helens a couple years ago...

[AussieRules]

Hi Beautiful shot of dawn over the mountain, with the moon still hanging. Nice work. My favorite hour of the day. Thanks