Glacier Vista Snowshoe

While every hike or backpacking trip I go on is beautiful and amazing, some adventures stand out to me for different reasons. There have been hikes that have taught me lessons or marked a major moment in my life. My snowshoe at Mt. Rainier National Park last weekend was one of those adventures. 

Last week was an unseasonably sunny and warm week, and I was hoping the weather would hold through the weekend so I could get outside and enjoy it. I have been wanting to try snowshoeing and after seeing lots of people enjoying the snow at Mt. Rainier on bluebird days, I decided it would be the perfect outing. As the week progressed, the forecast for the day I picked went from sunny, to partly sunny, to mostly cloudy. I was a little bummed, but wanted to go anyway, hoping we would be able to hike above the cloud layer. 

The morning of the hike didn’t start out how I had hoped. It was cloudy, and I forgot my sunglasses and had to stop at a gas station to buy a cheap pair. I was still excited to be getting outside and trying something new, but there was a layer of disappointment hanging over me.

Winter wonderland

By the time we got to the Paradise parking lot on the south side of the mountain, it was completely socked in with clouds. Visibility was not great and it was misting. But we bundled up in all our layers and set out. Originally, we had planned to hike to Panorama Point, but after realizing that snowshoeing is slower and harder than regular hiking, we decided to head to Glacier Vista, which is shorter and has less elevation gain. 

Once we got away from the parking lot, we entered a winter wonderland. Even though we couldn’t see much, it was still beautiful. The snow made everything look so pure, clean, and magical. Every so often, we would stop and listen: it was incredibly quiet and peaceful. We marveled at the trees sticking up through the snow and wondered about the depth of the snow.

Tree covered in snow and ice

As we continued, we asked those we passed if they had been able to get any kind of view. Everyone shook their heads and most people said visibility was actually worse higher up. I was slowly coming to terms that I wasn’t going to get that perfect view at the end of the hike, but I was okay with that. I was outside, exploring, and trying something new. Being stuck in a cloud was better than being at home, I told myself. 

After hiking for about an hour, we were almost to Glacier Vista and we noticed it was getting brighter. We were still completely surrounded by clouds but we could see the sun starting to shine though a little bit more than it had all day. Because there was so much snow, even a slight increase in sunlight made it bright enough that we had to put on our sunglasses. Now that I wasn’t squinting anymore, I noticed a faint outline appearing through the clouds.

All of a sudden, the clouds began to clear

I gasped and exclaimed “Look!” and sure enough, there was Mt. Rainier! It was still a faint outline, but becoming more visible by the second. The clouds were clearing fast. We stopped and took some pictures since we weren’t sure how long the blue skies would last. And my, how the skies were blue! In a matter of minutes, we had a perfectly clear view in front of us and it completely took our breath away. There was Mt. Rainier, up close, in all her magnificence.

Magnificent Mt. Rainier

Words truly cannot describe the amazing view. Looking to the south, we were pretty much at the cloud level. The jagged Tatoosh mountains were peaking through the clouds, as was the summit of Mt. Adams.

Tatoosh range, Mt. Adam summit visible on left

By this point, we were within a few hundred feet of the Vista. The view ahead of us was still crystal clear, but looking behind us, we could tell that clouds were rolling back in. Desperate for more pictures at a higher vantage point, I ran as best I could, uphill, in snowshoes. I was racing the clouds. We finally reached the Vista and took as many pictures as we could. Once we were satisfied that we had captured the landscape to the best of our ability, we sat down and prepared our food.

These two photos were taken from the same place, 15 minutes apart

Within a few minutes, we were surrounded by clouds again and the mountain was gone. All in all, we probably had about 15 minutes of perfect skies and clear views. 

We ate ramen and drank tea, happy that we had gotten such a great view of Mt. Rainier. Soon after, it started misting again, so we packed up our stuff and began the return trip. Hiking through low visibility was a unique challenge, but slightly unnerving. We stopped to check the map about every 10 minutes to make sure we had not strayed off course. Everything looked the same in the clouds, and it would have been so easy to miss a turn. Plus, we wanted to make sure that we hadn’t accidentally wandered into avalanche terrain.

Navigating in poor visibility was a bit of a challenge

We continued to marvel at the serenity and peacefulness of the snow covered landscape. All too soon, we reached the parking lot, removed our snowshoes, and prepared for the drive home.