We headed to Mount Rainier National Park on a Friday morning after we both ditched work. (And by "ditched" I mean we submitted requests to use some of the paid time off we had saved for just such an occasion.) We made the drive to the park. And the gate was closed. Of course it was. And this was the last weekday closure of the spring. After this it would be open (barring terrible weather) until the snows came in the fall. Argh!

To be fair, it was was publicized and I had made alternate plans since we couldn't start high on the Mountain. We started on dry trail, but quickly switched to patchy snow and then compact snow and ice. Microspikes gave us enough traction until we got to the deeper snow and switched to snowshoes.

The forest was beautiful. Little trees gave way to bigger trees and then to moss-draped stands. Finally, we broke out of the trees to where the Mountain would be on full display and NO MOUNTAIN! Lots of cloud, but no Mountain. Oh, for shame. We'd been under blue skies all morning, but when we finally needed it to be clear it was not.

Of course I dilly dallied hoping it would clear. No such luck. Best I got was a couple of shots of icy cliffs. Not even enough I could try to assemble a mosaic of the Mountain, but it was something. We could have waited longer or tried to push higher, but there was obvious instability on the steeper, bare slopes ahead and there was no reason to continue. So we retreated.

Yes, the blue skies flirted with the Mountain as we descended giving dramatic views of the Tatoosh Range. Yes, the snow was stickier on the way down. And yes, we had hours of driving ahead of us. But I'll still come back and try again because a day like this on the Mountain is better than a day sitting at a computer.

📍On the lands of the Puyallup people.