Rappelling With a Pine Tree

Parental advisory advised.....Just kidding, sort of. But just to clear up any confusion, by definition we didn't rappel down a mountain with a pine tree, but there were spots it definitely felt like it and the reason I have asked for a used GoPro from eBay for my next birthday.

rap·pel

verb gerund or present participle: rappelling

descend a rock face or other near-vertical surface by using a doubled rope coiled around the body and fixed at a higher point.

"they had to rappel down a long steep ice face"

After we dropped our first May visitors off at the airport, we decided to head towards Mount Rainier for our first hike in over a month. Freemont Lookout was on the docket for the sunny, mid sixty degree day. My mother was excitingly telling me about the latest Dear Bob and Sue podcast that highlighted their favorites spots in Mount Rainier on our drive down and told me to take a listen for idea for their upcoming trip. Now, I do listen to this podcast, but have yet to get to this episode. They say you should listen to your mother and that saying was true for this adventure.

We later learned by listening to the Dear Bob and Sue, Mount Rainier podcast episode on our way home.... that this park entrance doesn't typically open until the middle of June. Thankfully one of the larger ski resorts was just up the road, but because the majority of the trails are still covered in snow we weren't able to do the second place option - Bear Gap to Bullion Basin, but Ted was able to merge a few different trails together to come up with just over six miles.

Coincidently one of the trails was called Ted's Trail and one of the many reason this hike will be forever called Ted's Hike.

"We are going to have to bushwhack for a little while" he said.

When we hike we use the AllTrails app and download an offline map that allows us to record our progress, keep track of where we are, and it also has an "off route" alert that syncs with my watch to buzz me if we are off trail. When your hiking in the snow you are using the ski or snowshoe trails made before you to help you navigate as traditional summer landmarks cannot be seen. On our ascent we were in fact on trail, however the fog started to roll in and proceeding further up did not seem like the safe way to proceed. Two options. Return the way we came, proceed a few more minutes to see if the fog would roll through (plus our descending trail had to be pretty close), or a new third option presented to me - forge your own way down to meet up with the trail. In all fairness, the descending trail didn't seem that far off from where we were. Several snow butt slides, cross stepping, holding on to tree branches for balance, using them as a rappelling tool and or grabbing it as you slid by to stop was a little more than we bargained for, but not the worst situation we put ourselves in.

The bottom of the polygon shape below is our off trail adventure. And the excitement over finding the chair lift has never been more sarcastic.