Although I have hundreds of photos I need to process from our trip to Montana, we spent yesterday hiking on Mt. Rainier. Though our original intent was to hike around Reflection Lake, we changed our mind when we saw how much snow was still on the ground. Instead, we drove back down the mountain and hiked the Rampart Trail out of Longmire, a hike we have done several times in the last few years.
All Trails calls it a Moderate hike, but it was a challenging hike for us this early in the year, covering a little over 5 miles and 1,400 feet of elevation gain. We traveled the loop counter clockwise, which spreads the altitude gain over three miles, instead of just two miles if you go clockwise. Luckily, the beauty of the old-growth forest distracted from how breathless I felt despite spending a week at higher altitudes in Colorado last week. We crisscrossed this little stream most of the way up.
Although most of the climb is spent in heavy forests, because this is an Old-Growth Forest there are small meadows where ancient trees have fallen and cleared space for flowers like this Bear Grass
and views of even more rugged peaks across the valley.
The highlight of the hike, though, is the view of Mt. Rainier —
unless you are a birder and are pleased by the company of Canadian Jays (aka, Robber Jays) during your break before the long trek down the trail.
Descending the mountain went much quicker than the ascent, but this early in the hiking season my knees seemed to actually tolerate the ascent better than the descent. I was certainly glad that I had my hiking poles to take some of the pressure off my knees.
I managed to get nearly three hours of aerobic exercise on the hike, whereas I’m lucky to get a half hour of aerobic exercise while at the YMCA. No wonder I’m always in much better shape at the end of summer than I am at any other time during the year.