Camp Muir

Thirteen years ago everyone 10 and up in the Muir family tried a hike up to Camp Muir on Mount Rainier in Washington. Camp Muir is the base camp for assaults on the summit of Rainier. It is a 4 mile hike from Paradise, but gains 4500 feet in that time. You have to cross the Muir Snow field. It is a great thing for the brave to do on a beautiful day. It can be treacherous if there is no visibility. There are crevasses on the perimeter of the snow fields. I was in pretty good shape because I had been jogging 5 miles a day. But I was practically dragging Megan and Jeff up. It is pretty hard to drag people up hill. That gravity thing! We didn't make it. I remember when Megan just sat down and refused to move. I tried to motivate her by telling her that at Camp Muir there was a big party going on and they were barbecuing hot dogs and hamburgers and best of all they had Slurpees. It didn't work! I was pretty disappointed because I felt that I was ready to go, but Bob had to stay with the kids and I did not want to go alone. Remember the treacherous crevasses. Fast forward two years. Bob took Megan and Jeff on a hike to Camp Muir while I stayed in the lodge with John who was 8 years old and Joe who was only about 2 months old. They were gone so long that I contacted the park ranger and was gearing up for a search and rescue. They finally made it back. It just took them a long time but they made it to the camp!

Bob and I are going to Washington this summer with Joe and John. John mentioned to Bob that he would like to make the hike this year. Maybe John is in shape for this but I let that jogging 5 miles a day go a long time ago. It is going to take a minor miracle for me to be in shape enough to do that climb in that altitude. Bob and Joe are going to have to do some training also. Well, I guess it is a good thing that my true age as defined by a quiz I just took on Facebook was 21-30 or else I might be in trouble just thinking about this.