Paradise Snowshoe

With the pandemic daily case counts at their highest during the winter we decided to skip the crowded ski slopes for the season and do some snowshoeing instead. It had been five years since our last hike in the snow and we ended up with all kinds of gear issues. While planning the trip I noticed one of Rachel's snowshoes was missing, probably left on the mountain on our last trip. So she got some new snowshoes before Christmas. Once we had the gear we headed up to Paradise at Rainier to get on the snow. When taking out my snowshoes I noticed the straps had disintegrated, so I had to do the hike with just boots. Also one of my poles wouldn't extend and my fleece zipper broke. Fortunately everyone else's gear worked so only poor dad had to suffer.

We did a short hike to Edith Basin which is northeast of the visitor center. There was lots of fresh snow which was fun for the girls, but without snowshoes I was sinking down to my knees off trail. We crossed Edith Creek via a snowy bridge and soon found a spot to take a hot cocoa break. After some playing in the snow we headed back to the car. It was simple trip, but it was good to get back on the snow again.