Hiking Trips: Mt. Rainier, WA / Lake Tahoe, CA

[EggbertEatsBugs]

Did some hiking since I've been MIA, most fun was this trip to Mt. Rainier in August last year.

It was my first mountaineering/glacial hike. The trip was unguided, which I would change in retrospect due to insufficient crevasse rescue techniques, but we had no incidents and returned safely. The first day we hiked from 5400 ft to 10,188 ft and camped at Camp Muir. Our packs weighed roughly 50-60 lbs. The second leg began at 2 AM the next morning. We failed to summit due to a slower pace and changing/melting conditions, but we did make it to 12,500 ft elevation, descended back down to Muir, packed up camp and were safe and sound in the parking lot by 6 PM that day, beer in hand. The summit elevation is 14,410 ft.

I don't think I'll ever see a more spectacular sunrise. We were above the clouds as the sun was trying to peeking through the horizon (second to last pic, this post).

[EggbertEatsBugs]

[EggbertEatsBugs]

I've also piggy backed these pics from Lake Tahoe, CA. I hiked there for 2 weeks to prepare for Rainier...these are some panoramics I spliced. The view is from the summit of Mt. Tallac, which is located near the SW shore. The lake sits 6229 ft (1898 m)above sea level and is around 1800 ft (548 m) deep. The summit of Tallac is at 9735 ft (2967 m), and there's a total of 10 lakes that are visible from the top. The "o'clock" references the general facing direction with 12 noon being due North. 'Twas a great day for a hike. If you have the means to get there, it's worth the trip.



....................9 O'clock...................................1 O'clock...................................5 O'clock