Hiking Mt. Rainier's Skyline Trail

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During Katherine's and my week long visit to the Seattle area in August of 2006, we spent an incredible day exploring Mt. Rainier. We drove into the park on a cloudy morning when the mountain itself was nearly invisible, and made our way to the (very appropriately named) Paradise visitor's center on the south side of the peak. After consulting some hikers there, as well as a few in the local REI the day before, we decided to attempt the Skyline Trail.

The trailhead wasn't far from the visitor's center, and by the time we got there the clouds were clearing off to make way for a gorgeous day. We set out and were awarded some of our first clear glimpses of the mountain since entering the park. It's enormity was absolutely breathtaking. Throughout our drive to the park, we wound through forested roads and gently sloping hills without every catching sight of the gigantic peak. When it suddenly appeared through a thin haze of clouds I felt as if the mountain had been stalking us from behind its cloudy cover. It was somehow disquieting that something so large could remain invisible until we were literally standing on its slopes. As we hiked on the clouds periodically obscured the peak, only to allow its eerie reappearance later.

We were immediately impressed by the superbly-maintained trail. It was easy to follow, well-signed, not rutted or blocked anywhere, and even paved for the first 1/4 mile or so! We hiked up the first ascent very quickly, despite the fact that it is rather steep. Katherine and I both noticed our heart rates elevating quickly due to the altitude, but neither of us had any trouble with the climb. We were still awestruck by the beauty of the mountain and the valleys around us. In this early part of the hike we traveled through verdant meadows filled with bright, gorgeous wildflowers. The incongruous coexistence of such lush greenery with the barren rock and ice visible on the peak above us was fascinating. I would spend the rest of the hike trying to understand how these two environments depended upon one another.

To my great surprise, the mountain wildlife (as unfamiliar to me as the mountain landscape) seemed quite unafraid of the many hikers plying our trail. Early on we watched a chipmunk dash off the trail ahead of us, and later on stopped to see a marmot lumbering around in the grass about 10 ft away.

As we hiked higher and higher, we began to see more obvious evidence of the glaical activity that shaped the valleys. Lush meadows gradually gave way to scree slopes and rocky outcroppings. Soon we could look back down on the trail behind us and see a huge barren swathe carved by ice. This stood in stark contrast to the greenery we had just experienced, and seeing it began to make me appreciate the power of glacial activity on this mountain.

It wasn't long before we reached such an altitude that clouds began to drift into us from time to time. I was amazed at how much colder the air became every time we hiked into a cloud. Soon, we encountered packed snow along the trailsides. Its presence was equally mysterious to me, since it was easily 55 degrees that day. We stopped for lunch at around 6700' near the point where summit teams will branch off the trail to head toward Camp Muir (a high-altitude base camp further up the south face). As we ate, the mountain seemed to make itself visible or invisible as it wished, commanding the swirling clouds to engulf us or disappear. I was still unable to grasp the sheer size of the peak. We left the spot feeling excited and energetic. We had just hiked 1200' of altitude gain in only a few miles, at altitude (which neither of us was accustomed to), and were not at all tired. The thrilling vistas were all the motivation we needed to continue on.

Not long after lunch we began to gain altitude as the trail wound up a ridge via a rocky staircase. The greenery had now given way entirely to rock and snowpack, but from this section of the trail we could look back at the visitor's center and see how far we had come.

A few more minutes of hiking along the ridge brought us to "Panorama Point". At roughly 6800', this wasn't the highest point we would reach, but it definitely had the best view. Appropriately, I took a series of photos for the panoramic view (above). We spent a few moments here marvelling at the other mountains to the south. Unfortunately the clouds obscured our view of Rainier from here, but looking down on the other mountains, the valleys, and the trail we had already hiked was extremely rewarding.

Off to our left we noticed a group of mountaineers learning to glissade with their ice axes. They would flop on the snow and start sliding down the slope before stopping themselves. It looked like tremendous fun.

We hiked on, ascending to the top of the ridge that Panorama Point sits on. The weather turned cloudier, and before long we were completely engulfed in a haze that obscured everything more than about 50 ft away. We had the eerie sensation of losing sight of everything around us that would indicate our altitude. All we could see was the ground immediately before us; without the mountains and valleys to orient us, it seemed as if we were just hiking in some low foothills.

The haze lasted only briefly, and after a few minutes we were able to catch fleeting glimpses of the peak once again. The ridge we hiked along marked the highest point we would reach on the trail--about 6900'. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to enjoy the view from up there due to the clouds. By the time they had cleared we were beginning our descent into the valley to the east.

The descending trail took us along a ridge in between the valley we had climbed and the one immediately to the east. The east valley was desolate and featureless-- it appeared that the glaciers had done more work here than on the ascending side. I marveled at the stark beauty of the gray rocks and pockets of snowpack that had survived the summer. Being unaccustomed to snow, we veered off the trail (at a rocky place, to avoid trampling the vegetation!) to play in one of the snowpacks for a few minutes. I was surprised how firm it felt underfoot, despite the warm weather. I could hear water running, and realized that the pack was melting from underneath! I logged this little discovery in my list of fascinating things about glacial geography and moved on (after dodging a snowball from my fiancée).

Eventually we returned to the green elevations of the valley, and before long were surrounded by the brilliant flora we had seen at the beginning of the day. Katherine was moved by the beauty of all the wildflowers we were passing, and decided to try her hand at some artistic photography. We moved fairly slowly for a while, giving her time to shoot a number of the brilliant flowers we saw.

We continued downward through the beutiful valley, across several chilly mountain streams and through some sparse woodland. This final leg of the hike was even more stunning than the first, with even more greenery mixed with the soothing sound of water flowing and occasional patches of snow.

We continued into the bottom of the valley, where the trail turned and ascended the other side for a final stretch back to the visitor's center. We marvelled all the way at plants, waterfalls, the beautiful sunlight (which had finally burned off all the clouds), and the stunning mountain landscape surrounding us. We reached the trailhead having travelled some 6 miles and gained and lost 1400' of elevation in about four hours. This was certainly one of the most ambitious dayhikes we had ever attempted, and we were both thrilled.

All in all, this hike is unquetionably the highlight of my entire outdoor experience until now. Although I would have loved to spend weeks exploring the country on and around Mt. Rainier, I felt that the Skyline trail gave us a as great a sampling of the region's beauty as a single day trip possibly can. For Katherine and me, it was just the right length, just the right difficulty, and offered huge rewards with its breathtaking views and up-close encounter with mountain landscape. I highly, highly recommend this trail to any experienced dayhiker wanting to experience Mt. Rainier in one day.