Snowshoe along Paradise Glacier Trail via Mazama Ridge on Mt Rainier

Today was another beautiful day, and we again headed up to Paradise on Mt Rainier for a snowshoe trip.

We choose a different route, and left the parking lot at Paradise along the Paradise Valley Route to 4th Crossing up Mazama Ridge, then headed north to the ridge line above the Paradise Glacier Trail (buried in snow). This route is marked in blue on the map to the left (going off the map). Our hike was about a 4 mile round trip with about 1000 ft of elevation gain.

Hiking along the Paradise Valley Route looking toward Mazama Ridge.

 A small waterfall seen along the way.

 After the road takes a sharp hair pin turn, look for the way up 4th crossing to the south of the creek that runs down from Sluiskin Falls (not seen in the photo).

 View of the Tatoosh Range from the top of Mazama Ridge.

 From Mazama Ridge, we headed north toward the Skyline Route.
 Along this ridge line we could see tracks where others had gone down hill, then up along Skyline Route. We stayed up on the ridge and headed north east (to the right, out of this photo).

We kept snowshoeing until we reached the top of the hill and there were sharp drop offs all around us. We had fabulous panoramic views!

 Looking southeast down Stevens Canyon with Mt Adams in the far distance.










Panoramic View of Mt Rainier and Little Tahoma to the northwest.

 How close the mountain looks with a regular photo

Hiking back to Paradise, heading southwest, views of the Tatoosh Range with Mt St Helens in the far distance

Beautiful icicles