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"As in any alpine region, the weather is changeable, protection questionable, route-finding bewildering, rockfall frequent and descents tedious. In short, it's everything you could ever ask for." — from the Canadian Alpine Journal, 1993. Day 1. Isaac and Neal lick me up on the 4th in a little four-door compact driven by Isaac’s sister-in-law. We’re off to catch the plane and our excitement only increases. The car is crammed with gear. Bags are sitting in our laps. When we get to the airport it’s like watching clowns pile out of a circus car as we spill out of the car pushing bags ahead of us and pulling six more large duffels and backpacks behind us. We check in and laugh about how our “light and fast” collection of gear looks more like we are headed to Everest… Isaac has a seat further back in the plane and boards first. He has decided not to check a lot of his climbing gear and is going to try and carry on his climbing pack. We watch him and his pack disappear down the jet way after he assures the check in clerk it will fit in the overhead compartment “I think”. I realize my level of paranoia about losing checked gear to the airline monsters is not as great as his. Neal and I begin boarding. It’s amusing to watch Isaac stuff his pack into the overhead bin - worth the price of admission. I should have gotten a picture of the moment. My seat is in the same row as Neal’s and Isaac manages to switch seats and comes to sit with us. He immediately produces color prints of high quality photos we got off the internet and the two of us ogle over the Liberty Ridge route for much of the plane ride to Washington. Our increasing anticipation produces smiles upon arrival. We grab our carry-on gear and find our precious checked luggage in good condition. One bullet dodged, many more to come. I have my climbing pack on my back, the duffle over my neck and my 2000 cubic inch pack in my hands as we head down to find the rental car. We get more than a few looks as the three of us carry more “luggage” than your mother-in law moving in for the summer. I grab some pound cake from a vendor and we jam the poor little Mazda 3 rental full of gear and guys. Next we’re off to the local REI for some fuel, but it doesn’t turn out to be the flagship store I am hoping for. <Sigh> I guess my pilgrimage to the REI Mecca will have to wait for the next trip. We get our fuel and I find my “luxury” earplugs. Our next stop is Wendy’s, it’s time to introduce Neal to a little peradventure ritual Isaac and I have. Yup, we never start a new adventure with out first heading to Wendy’s for a Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Isaac and I both order our Spicy Chicken meals and have them biggie sized and buy a second sandwich for later. I don’t think Neal quite gets the importance or our little ritual because he begins to order three Triple Deckers. We set him straight and make him order at least one Spicy Chicken. We plow our way though a table of food knowing it will be our last high calorie meal for a few days. It turns out to be more than just a few days. We decide to fill up our water bottles here too. They won’t take our water bottles behind the counter and instead keep filling up Biggie Size cups and passing them out to us. The girl behind the counter seems amused. Back to the car and off to the mountain. After a few errors, u-turns, and a brief road rage incident, we are on our way to Mt. Rainier. By now I have figured out what item I forgot to pack - the topo map of the park, its roads and the mountain itself! Hopefully it’s the only thing we’ve forgotten. On the way, we notice that many of the people here love really big trucks, the ones with huge tires. Mostly pickup trucks with six tires and ground clearance high enough to drive over a two year old with out disturbing a single hair. We finally enter the park and confirm Gator’s prediction that this is the time of the year when the roads are in “rough” shape. Poor might not adequately convey how bad these roads are. The pot holes are sometimes bigger than the car. Neal seems intent on getting us to the trailhead as quickly as possible, despite his complete lack of rally racing experience and the canyon-sized potholes that keep looming in front of the car. After one particularly sharp swerve toward the drainage ditch, and a very large tree, a bellow comes from Isaac in the back seat - “NEAL!” That pretty much puts the breaks on Neal’s pace, and we eventually find the Ranger station safely. It's closed and we do the after-hours registration. Our itinerary reads; Day One: Camp; Day Two: Thumb Rock; Day Three: Camp Shurman; Day Four, Five, and Six are reserved for delays due to weather. Isaac is thinking it we get down to Camp Shurman by Day 3 we could try another route up the mountain for a second summit… Yeah. We hop back in the car and head for the trailhead. Pulling into the lot we spot just one car and our first glimpse of snow. Grabbing our gear from the car, we start getting ready for the trek ahead. I organized my backpack before we left home and only need to change clothes and strap a few things to the outside of the pack. I fill my fuel bottles, stuff them into the pack’s side pockets, and find myself ready before Neal and Isaac. I think this is the only time during the trip I was ever ready before Neal, who can pack almost as fast as he can go to sleep. As I wait for Isaac and Neal to get ready, I spot a hiker coming down the trail and engage him in some small talk. He reports more snow up ahead and “wishes he’d brought his snowshoes”. We’re finally on our way, making lots of jokes as we work our way up a wide and well-maintained trail. The forest here is much different than it is in Minnesota with different sents and more pungent aromas. It makes for a beautiful hike. It's dark by the time we make it to the suspension bridge, which we cross one at a time. The bridge is quite long, with metal cables and wood planks. It swings, rattles and bounces as we cross as nightfall finally reaches us - a nervous way to begin the adventure, but nothing like what’s to come. Soon after crossing the bridge we find a flat space under some trees and put the tent up. I start throwing gear inside for the first of many nights in our nice comfy tent-made-for-two! We begin looking for clean snow to melt for water when Isaac discovers the second thing we have left behind – a backup MSR XGK EX stove we were going to use to speed up the process of melting snow for water. Neal and I both tell him to shrug it off, we still have one stove and plenty of fuel. I say it will probably save us fuel and not to worry about it, but despite our best attempts, Isaac remains visibly upset. It will probably cost us some time melting snow, but these new MSR stoves go like jet engines, melting snow quite fast, so the backup will probably be just extra weight. We eat our second Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwich for dinner and crawl into the tent. I take up my sleeping position in the centerline of the tent with my feet at Isaac's and Neal's heads. This will be the only night where I can actually move my feet side to side. Most nights after this, I will end up either having my ankles wedged together with Isaac's arm on my shin, or with my ankles crossed and wedged between their shoulders. Just before we fall asleep Isaac share the good news that he and his wife are expecting their first child. Congratulations Isaac! We now have one more “little” reason to return safely. I pop my “luxury items” into my ears and actually get a good night’s sleep.
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