4/2, Saturday. 8 of us + 1 dog started at the parking lot off FR-7190, just before Crystal Mountain ski area, east of Mt Rainier.
Headed on Norse Peak trail. It's all in the snow, but we didn't use snowshoes (only carried them just in case). We cut a couple of zigzags, because pretty soon, we could see any trail, so just went up the slope. At some point, I realized that those ahead of me were heading up to Kahuna, the trail on my phone is much lower than us. So I headed the saddle between Kahuna and Norse, while the rest of my group went to Kahuna.
Naturally, I arrived at Norse Peak first, breaking a trail. The top is a little steep, but okay. One of us never made to Norse. After waiting for awhile, 7 of us continued on the ridge, up and down. We made to East Peak, Platinum Peak, Bullion Peak, Crown Point, and all the unamed summits in between. This photo is on top of East Peak, where we had lunch. The ridge is not the safest place to walk on.
Maybe it was Bullion Peak, I saw this sign. Not clear what's written. You can see the ski area below us. Between Bullion and Platinum, we saw 2 groups of skiers. They came up from the ski area. We came down from Crown Point towards the basin of Silver Creek. Tried to glissade a few times, the snow was crusty. A very bumpy and somewhat painful ride. Then we walked along the Silver Creek drainage to the housing and then ski lift. Of course all in snow, no creek to be found.
My group (6 of them) went down to the ski parking lot. Di, our hike leader, ran back to the car, so he could drive to the ski area to pick the rest up. On my way down, punching holes on the edge of the ski slope, debaing whether to put snowshoes on. I decided to walk along NF-410. It's flat, but more snow than I hoped, so I still sink a bit. It's 2+ miles. I was the last one to reach the cars, but not much later than the rest. They were still changing clothes and storing packs in the cars. Our 8th person was also here. Not sure where he went, after we all went to Norse Peak.
This group always stops for dinner. I don't eat in-doors, so waited in the car with my book.
