Skyline Trail

The Skyline Trail Loop starts out at Paradise Lodge in Mt. Rainier National Park, circles about a canyon to the east, reaches a high point of 6,800 feet at Panorama Point, and gradually descends back to the lodge.  A six-mile walk, with a 1,400 foot elevation gain, the hike has been given a difficulty rating of "4" by a guidebook that I use, compared with a "5" for the climb to Camp Muir (which I discussed two years ago).

If the Skyline Loop is a "4," I'd be required to rate Camp Muir a "fifteen"!  But although the hike was not that difficult, it certainly had its small challenges as well as offering the hiker exposure to magnificent scenery.

Even on a Monday, Paradise in August is crammed with tourists, with the only parking some distance from the lodge.  There's an old hikers' joke:

The density of hikers on the trail is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the trailhead and the cube of the elevation above the trailhead.

Nevertheless, I found a considerable number of hikers on the trail, all the way up to Panorama Point -- from small kids to elderly folks who wouldn't have surprised me if they had needed help just to get from their car to the lodge. 

Visitors to Paradise were putting forth their best efforts today, determined to get beyond the gift shop and climb as high as they were able.

The day was mostly clear, and the mountain was majestic (see photo above).  The wild flowers are reaching their peak.  Much of the upper trail, as you approach Panorama Point from the east, is still covered with snow, and the final climb involved a steep traverse of a steep snow field, requiring constant effort to ensure that your boot soles were cutting firmly into the snow.  A high route exists, however, taking the hiker over the top of the snow field, at the cost of another half mile in distance, and many hikers were electing to follow that route.  (Most of the less able hikers were both climbing and descending the western portion of the loop, which is a shorter distance to Panorama Point than the eastern route, and is also largely free of snow.)

So the climb was exhilarating, if less taxing than expected.  I do need to complete one or two more difficult climbs, however, as conditioning before my trek in September.