Glacier Vista and Nisqually Vista Snowshoe

Beautiful day today, so we headed up to Paradise at Mt Rainier NP for a leisurely snowshoe. We went up to Glacier Vista, then came down and went over to do the Nisqually Vista Trail. So glad we did both, it was fun to see Mt Rainier and the Nisqually Glacier from two different viewpoints. We did about 3.7 miles with 1,000 ft of gain. The red marking on the map was our approximate route today. 

Some people hiked up to Panorama Point with just boots, but as we weren't staying on others tracks, we used our snowshoes and would have been post holing at times without them today.

 Mt Rainier as we headed up!

 Mt Rainier and the Nisqually Glacier from Glacier Vista (this is a little over a mile and about 900' gain from the parking area)











Pano from Glacier Vista to the south: Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens behind the Tatoosh.

 Far below is the road bridge over the Nisqually that we drove over on our way up to Paradise this morning.

 Looking back toward Rainier and some wind swept cornices as we were hiking down towards Deadhorse Creek Basin










Hiking down along the wind swept cornices

 I didn't notice this snow terrace when I was here a couple of weeks ago. Love seeing how the wind and snow created different formations.

 Rainier from down in the Deadhorse Creek Basin

 View of the Tatoosh from Deadhorse Creek Basin

 The Nisqually Vista Trail is a loop trail marked by poles in the winter. Although it is mainly in the forest,

 there are several places with nice views of Mt Rainier

 a boot track led to this glimpse of Rainier through the trees.

 Mt Rainier and the Nisqually Glacier from the Nisqually Vista viewpoint.

 another view from the viewpoint

















We choose to return to the main parking area from alongside the lower parking area. Fabulous view of the Tatoosh Range here: