Mount Rainier – Camp Muir

July 21, 2021 – Our Hike to Camp Muir in Mount Rainier National Park

View Route Details: AllTrails Map of Route

I had no idea that a regular hiker can hike to Camp Muir!

A hiking destination I highly recommend, but also don’t attempt unless you’re well prepared. It does take some navigation skills and know-how so that you don’t walk off the ledge. Or get snow blindness… or wanna take a nap barely halfway back down…For those who like stories with pics I made lots and lots of comments – some silly ones.

Destination: Camp Muir
Elevation: 10,188 feet
188 feet of badness cause you’re not supposed to be above 10k in Mount Rainier without a climbing permit.
And into the mist and fog we venture.
Fog. Mist. Flowers. Alpine trees. The sweet smell of fresh cool air. Oh, I miss thee! (Album created on day when Spokane is having horrific air quality.)
STAY ON THE TRAIL, please. This is such an important rule to abide by in high trafficked hiking areas. I know you might be thinking it’s not a big deal, but it really is. These plants already fight tough alpine conditions they don’t need our silly boots to make their life that much tougher.
And out to the mighty sea he looks… watching and waiting for the seafaring men to gather by…
…his Stonehenge.
“No, just wanna sit on this darned rock, thank you.”-Marmot
Who wore that early morning mist the best? Them or…
…or me? Definitely, the Western Anemone. They do the adorable crazy hair a la mist day waaaaay better.
Oh! The view!
The fog is lifting! It’s gonna be a gorgeous day!
It really was. But views like this happened in a peekaboo way.
Nothing better to give you bit of an adrenaline rush as Rainier peeks out above and a WARNING sign to tell you crevasses have opened below your final destination.
And this is where we step off the rock lined trail and onto snow where the scrambling begins. So much snow. And ice. And snow.
Me looking at Rainier thinking I’m good to never go to the tippy top, but I do love the view from below it.
Lunch time! Suit up time. More cause of the horse flies biting and not cause we got cold — but yes, generally, the rule of thumb is ya gotta bundle up when resting — that body heat from exercise vanishes quickly.
David assessing a glissade chute — nope not gonna take this one on the way down cause he didn’t pack his ice axe. In addition, I stupidly sent my rain pants home with my Dad thinking we weren’t doing any hikes that would need such things.
Almost all those people below are climbers with hopes to be summiting Rainier.
South of Rainier mighty Mount Adams shows off its tippy top.
Close up of Mount Adams peeking above the clouds.
Thanks to David there are dozens of these pics of my behind hiking up things.
Okay, so if I crop out the left of this pic it would totally be like me looking at the moon, yes?
Same spot. Different angle.
Getting closer…
And yeah, we can’t see much, yet again.
You know what’s pretty eerie when climbing up the snowfield and you can barely see past your nose? The sounds the mountain makes as it rumbles and ice avalanches happen in the not-too-far distance.
Of the three we heard I was lucky enough to spot a serac (giant hunk of glacial ice) as it broke off from one of Rainier’s many glaciers. (Not the one captured in this photo.)
This shot was taken just below Camp Muir.
There are buildings! So many buildings.
Keanu Reeves ain’t got nothing on us! Walk in the Clouds. Pfffft. We walk ABOVE the clouds.
I’m sorry. But so fricken’ cool. I still have no aspirations to climb Rainier. I _love_ going up. But pretty much like a cat about coming down–I would need rescuing cause I do not like coming down things.
This is the closest I’ve ever been to mountaineers and their base camps. I loved it. I read a lot of mountaineering books and this was a treat for me to have had the chance to hike to one.
A high table top erected for those who love late night bar top dancing.
At Camp Muir.
Oh, this brings back memories of my 2013 Mt. Rainier JLo hair shot. Something about Rainier’s winds just carries my hair like so… =)
Meanwhile… David sporting his sunscreen lather it on thick on technique.
So close yet so far away.
Wind made it a bit cold, but mostly just my usual Raynaud’s kicking in so mittens and hats go on.
Since we didn’t find any crevasses below Camp Muir. I decided to make a man-made one.
I’ll let you ponder that for a moment.
Walking on the moon… desolate… hell of desperation sets in…
I felt that going up was “a breeze”, but the down… oh the down…

1) I experienced early onset of snow blindness and we got it fixed by wearing David’s sunglasses for 30 mins.
2) I was very sane, but crawling under a rock or really just curling up in a ball on the snow and taking a nap sounded delightful. Had I actually attempted it then that would have been insane. But I now have an even greater understanding of that feeling that mountaineers describe.
3) Glissading in a chute gets your buttocks super cold, but I had to try it out a bit.
4) I didn’t fall, not once. David fell once. A mountain climber fell multiple times and started cursing himself. Poor guy – he must’ve been extra exhausted.
…and then finally after hours of heel stepping it down snow and ice you get the first glimpse of a view of something other than… see previous photo: moon, a desolate hell.
Our attempt to capture our disgust. We simply can’t fake it…
We were all smiles as we knew we finally made it off the tough part and easy rock lined trails await us.
The two mile hike to the parking lot was breathtakingly gorgeous. It was my favorite views of Skyline Trail of all the times we’ve hiked here. Someday I hope to stay for a full sunset.
This photo got burned halfway during photo development…
David’s melting mountain-devil slug monster.
Can you spot the mountain goats
If not, here ya go.
Shortly after this photo was taken we practically sprinted off the mountain.
Okay, like a super fast walk.