Once a year for the last several years I sign up to volunteer for Nordic Patrol at Mt. Rainier National Park. On my first trip in 2007 I met Pam and we try to coordinate volunteer weekends so we can hang out together. This time there were five volunteers and the group leader. Pam knew the other three volunteers but neither of us had met the leader before.
The leader, Phil, had arrived at the house first and was enjoying a glass of wine when we came in. The house is used for seasonal housing in the summer but is dedicated to the volunteer nordic patrol in the winter. It is bunk style with three bedrooms, a loft, and two bathrooms. Phil took the upstairs while Pam and I settled in one of the downstairs bedrooms.
After Pam and I tucked into a bottle of wine Marcia, Beth and Eivind arrived. We stayed up until 11:00 p.m. getting acquainted and making a plan for the next day. Phil had volunteered several times this season so had an idea what might be expected of us by the ranger in the morning.
I slept like a rock that night and woke up just before the alarm went off at 7:00. That allowed for a fairly leisurely morning of coffee, breakfast, lunch prep, pack repacking then waiting for Ranger Dan. Our duty for the day was to patrol the marked snowshoe-ski routes at Narada Falls and Paradise, make observations on begging foxes, make visitor contact and help where needed.
The snow conditions were crust on yucky snow. Pam wisely opted to leave her skis behind and instead snowshoed. I hadn't even brought my snowshoes so had to manage with skis and skins. We reset trail poles from Narada Falls up to the saddle above Reflection Lakes, attempted a few wobbly turns in heavy crud then had lunch at Reflection Lakes. The black fox spotted us and trotted purposely in our direction. We shooed it off then continued our patrol back down to Inspiration Point and over to the junction that goes up a gully to Paradise.
Once we were at Paradise, a ranger asked us to reset some poles in the Nisqually Loop because so much melt had occurred, which made the existing trail too close to the edge of the river. We took some time to reroute the trail and came across a young man who had taken the wrong route to meet up with friends to camp for the night in Dead Horse Basin. We directed him to the right path and advised him to return to his car if he didn't reach his friends in the next half mile or so.
Then as we returned to the parking area we spotted two ladies with a dog on one of the snow trails walk right past a "No Pets" sign. Phil pursued them and asked them to return to pavement where dogs are allowed. They complied.
Then we began the descent along Paradise Valley road back to Narada Falls. The anticipated storm blew in making visibility awful. I went first and reached a junction where I thought we should regroup. Phil continued to the vehicle so that he could pick us up at an easy meeting point while I waited for the snowshoers to catch up. And waited. I started back up the road to stay warm and caught up with them coming down. We made the turn together then came to a confusing junction where we were all tempted to turn left. The map told us to turn right and after a lot of doubt we went that way and learned it was indeed the correct direction. Yay for maps in wild storms!
We returned to the house later than usual but it was a great day of exercise since we estimated we toured approximately 6-7 miles total. We had a wonderful potluck dinner of chili, cornbread, massaged kale salad, and wine. Some were able to make room for Pam's Dark and Stormy Pear Crisp but Beth and I opted to wait to eat it for breakfast. We all were tired from the cold and exersion so turned in shortly after 9:00 p.m.
This morning we woke up to clear skies but the gate to Paradise was closed until 11:00 so the majority of us packed up, cleaned the house and left for home. If it had snowed more than 7" waiting for the gate to open might've been worthwhile. But skiing on 7" of fresh over hard crust didn't sound appealing. It was a nice drive home and I had a splendid nap this afternoon.
Here are the pictures.