Mazama Ridge, Skyline Trail, Paradise Glacier Trail, winter hike & fun on Mt Rainier

Another sunny day in January! For snow & views we headed back up to Paradise on Mt Rainier. It was a bit cloudy in the morning, but the skies cleared up as the day continued. There was less snow than there was 10 days ago, but it was well packed. We didn't need our snowshoes, we wore micro spikes for the entire hike today.

We went from Paradise up Mazama Ridge, then part way up the Skyline Trail  before heading back to the ridge above the Paradise Glacier Trail. We did about 5 miles with over 1000 ft of elevation gain.

I marked today's hike in purple on the map today (the hike up the Paradise Glacier Trail goes off of this map).

There was less snow along all the creeks and the exposed rocks.

Conditions were like spring hiking in the snow, we needed to be careful going over snow bridges.

Heading up Mazama Ridge.

From Mazama Ridge, we hiked over where the Stevens Van Trump Monument is under the snow. Then "followed" where the Skyline Trail goes down, across the creeks, and up the ridge line above Golden Gate. The ridge is seen on the left in this picture:

The wooden bridge over one of the creeks was exposed, showing a safe crossing here. We could see large cracks in the snow on some of the snow bridges over the other creek.

 From the Skyline Trail looking south to Mazama Ridge, the Tatoosh Range and in the far distance Mt Hood and Mt St Helens.

 to the west Pyramid Peak, Copper Mtn and Iron Mtn

In front of us: Mt Rainier

We returned along the Skyline Trail back above Mazama Ridge and headed up along the ridge line that goes above the Paradise Glacier Trail. We had fun going up and down the small rises along this ridge line enjoying the views. From here we could see Mt Adams, along with Mt Hood and Mt St Helens behind the Tatoosh Range.

 Across Stevens Ridge to the east, lay Mt Aix, Goat Peak, etc.

 to the south: the peaks in the Goat Rocks Wilderness and Mt Adams

Panorama view to the south:

 Panorama view to the north:

Gorgeous day with fabulous views!