Pebble Creek @ Rainier – Summer Route
Two weeks after our first training hike up to Pebble Creek at Mt Rainier, we do it all over again but via the summer route due the low snowpack conditions.
And in similar fashion, we leave Seattle around 6am to make it to Paradise by 8:30a. The weather this weekend was the opposite of what we experienced on the last hike with light showers and a thin layer of low-level stratus over the entire Puget Sound region. Temperatures were also a little cooler in the mid to upper 40s even at Paradise. Driving up to Paradise once we entered the park became increasingly more foggy as we climbed in elevation and up to the base of the low stratus hanging around the mountain. Once we reached the Paradise parking, it was still foggy with visibilities pretty low and the mountain nowhere in sight. Once the group got their gear ready and gathered together, we headed out just shortly after 9a with temperatures around 45 degrees.
There was considerably less snow cover this time than even two weeks ago. The snow that covered the entire meadow just above the parking lot was all melted, and several other sections along the lower portion of the trail were now exposed. The summer route runs along the Skyline Trail up to Pebble Creek, which is to the left (west) of the winter route and is generally less steep than the winter route since it doesn’t include the avalanche shoot we had to ascend last time.
We repeated the same route as two weeks ago — taking a break about every hour on the hike. Eventually we climbed our way above the thin stratus layer and were greeted by partly cloudy skies with more mid-level clouds still shrouding the summit. By 11:30a we had reached our destination of Pebble Creek which is where we stopped for our extended lunch break. The views were spectacular from this position as we were above the low cloud layer, mountain peaks appearing like islands amidst the sea of clouds. The downside to the sun was it heated things up quickly, especially once the breeze we had earlier in the morning subsided by noon.
After 20-30 minutes, we began our descent back to Paradise, and it was definitely getting a lot warmer on the mountain, especially in the snowpack areas. We were back in the clouds and fog at around 5000 feet and fully engulfed in it by the time we reached the Paradise parking lot by 2p. The last quarter-mile the trail is paved asphalt, which is one of the worst parts of the trail for sore knees, legs and feet. Once we all arrived back to the parking lot, checked out and a quick gear/clothing change, we all headed out for the day.
Several of us all met up at Whittaker’s Basecamp Bar & Grill for food and beer afterwards, which was definitely a nice way to wind down after the hike and before the painful two-hour drive back to Seattle. Overall it definitely felt like this hike was easier than the last one, most of which is probably due to being more familiar with the route.
In two weeks we have an even more exciting and challenging hike up to Camp Muir, which is halfway to the summit and the same route we’ll be doing the first day of our actual climb.
