7/4/2024 - 7/5/2024 I have been climbing mountains in the Cascades for my entire life but somehow had never attempted Mount Rainier. That changed when our friend Rio texted saying he had a permit for Camp Muir – this was the perfect chance to finally have a go at the iconic tallest peak in Washington State.  Paradise to Camp Muir Our permit was for multiple nights, which would give us some additional wiggle room in our schedule to play with should we need it. A warming period

Somehow, I had never been to the Crystal Backcountry, and with the new year that had to change. The goal for these two trips was to check out Bullion Basin and the supposed wealth of backcountry skiing options that radiate out from the basin. 1/1/2023 Katie and I got a late start, so only had time for a quick tour. We started up from the C lot at Crystal and began touring up the Blue Bell Loop, a nice, groomed trail, which took us up to the start of the Bullion Basin Trail sy

12/3/2022 The Cascades had just received their first big snowfall of the year, and it was time to go play in the snow. Katie and I chose to go down to Paradise because of its open skiable terrain and beautiful scenery. It has also become something of an early season tradition to head down that way to knock the rust off before winter begins in earnest. The road from Longmire to Paradise wasn’t set to open until after 10 am, so we had a leisurely morning and were in no rush to

8/22/2022 Took advantage of the long days of summer by doing a quick weekday evening jaunt up Tolmie Peak in Mount Rainier NP The Mowich Lake Road is long and unpaved, but aside from a few washboard sections goes pretty quick. By the time I took off on the Wonderland Trail it was about 5:15 pm and summit of Mount Rainier was in a thick cloud. It seemed like the entire state was under clear blue skies except for the northern aspect of Rainier, and I was pretty pessimistic abou