Rainier hike to camp Muir

We heard this grouse long before we saw it.

It sounded like water sloshing in a big bottle.

Guess that's pretty attractive to a female grouse.

The fog was so thick we missed our cut-off to Wilson glacier. 

So we decided to climb the DC route instead.

It cleared by the time we reached Camp Muir,

where we ran into Joseph and Jim who were geared up to climb with RMI.

A 150 degree panorama of the Muir snowfield with Adams & St. Helens

Camp at Muir

Adams

The weather was looking promising... cold but clear

But a summit wasn't in the cards... only a few hundred yards into the climb from Muir

and my new crampons refused to stay on my boots.

We decided to hit St. Helens instead

Joseph hanging out at Muir

On the way down, we veered off to the west to check out the Wilson route.

A quick jog and we were back on track

Very deep track