Nite Hike

Late last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at it) we headed up to Mt Hood for some night hike training. During the Rainier climb on summit day we will start hiking in the wee-dark hours of the day, so this was a good way to experience a little bit of what that will be like. 

All I could see--The Moon and the Next Step Ahead

The path from Timberline to Silcox Hut isn't terribly challenging physically, but is a good taste of what nighttime snow hiking is all about, and practice putting on crampons by the light of a headlamp.

We were blessed with a beautiful night, three-quarter moon beautifully visible. Windy but pretty warm.

Break near Silcox Hut

Bright lights and shadows

Timberline on our way back down

While I'm not super happy with the quality or artistry of these photos they give some idea of what it was like up there. 

Good to practice midnight hiking and gearing up in the dark so it's not so foreign on climb day. Tomorrow we head out to the gorge to tackle Nesmith Point (one of my favorite trails). Stay tuned for more on that tomorrow!

The Tally: 
Mt Rainier                          17 mi      9,000 ft elevation gain
Training Hikes So Far       61 mi     19,700 ft elevation gain