On Saturday I decided to venture about as high as the snow would let me and I ended hiking up Tatoosh Mountain, whose trailhead is just a few miles from the cabin. I should have known better than to continue when the big patches of snow started encompassing the trail around 4000 feet but of course often enough I just don’t “get it” do I? Alone in the wilderness, ice, snow- I’ve got shorts and a T-shirt, two powerbars and water- what could possibly go wrong? Just before I thought I’d have to turn around in utter and complete disgrace, and after probably a 1/2 mile in snow sometimes up to my hips, I discovered the ridge to the final peak was nearly totally bare.

It was an exciting revelation, a peak would somewhat justify the gashes on my shins from the ice and the bit too perilous ascent. I suppose my REI dividend is going toward some trekking poles and snowshoes? “First tracks” indeed. I can just about guarantee I was the first up Tatoosh this year.

TATOOSH HISTORY

Tatoosh lookout lies in the heart of the Tatoosh Wilderness that adjoins Mt. Rainier National Park’s southern boundary. The wilderness was designated in 1984, with 15,800 acres to its credit- Tatoosh peak is 6,310 feet, and the site of a former fire lookout. It was first made famous by a book of the same name, written by Martha Hardy in 1932. Hardy was a fire lookout who once worked the peak.

Thanks to RCM for joining me in Packwood- the Peters Inn isn’t for the faint of heart on karaoke night.