We leave at 7:15am and are told it's a 2 hour drive . . . but that we'll stop for coffee along the way. Since the road between Paradise and White River Campground is still closed (due to snow), we head west from Ashford and drive north all the way around the park and then head east and then south. It's a very long drive.
The weather is rain, rain, rain and the forecast doesn't look promising either, but we only have information for Camp Muir and the southwest side of the mountain. I see it says 70 mph winds, snow, and more of the same. But I'm sure the forecast will be wrong. Katy is driving the shuttle to White River Campground. She is afraid of driving, but she's the only one of the guides who has experience pulling a trailer! It takes us almost 4 hours!! I guess it doesn't help that we stopped 3 or 4 times (apparently we were delaying the start due to the poor weather). Somehow lucky for us, the rain stopped by the time we got to the parking lot at the White River Campground. In fact "the sun is shining!" I guess we won't have to walk in rain after all. "It's going to be a beautiful day and an easy easy hike!" I'm excited.
We grab our packs from the trailer and "load up". The van & trailer will be in the parking lot waiting for our return.
My pack is "heavier than ever!" and I try to lift it up. I can't . . . one of the guides (Kate - not to be confused with Katy) shows me how to lift the pack to my knee and then swing it up on my back. She notices that the pack is too big for me!! "Why didn't someone notice that earlier??" (Oh, I'm learning so many things about climbing . . . if I ever do this again, I'll be so prepared it will be a piece of cake!)
Joel and Jeff (two of the guides) pull out the map and show us where we're headed. I'm eager to get going to find out what it's going to be like hiking for several hours. The itinerary says we're going to have a "lovely 3+ mile hike through the beautiful forest". I can't wait! We're starting at 4400' and headed up to 6000' where we'll set up camp on the "edge of the forest".
We grab our packs from the trailer and "load up". The van & trailer will be in the parking lot waiting for our return.
My pack is "heavier than ever!" and I try to lift it up. I can't . . . one of the guides (Kate - not to be confused with Katy) shows me how to lift the pack to my knee and then swing it up on my back. She notices that the pack is too big for me!! "Why didn't someone notice that earlier??" (Oh, I'm learning so many things about climbing . . . if I ever do this again, I'll be so prepared it will be a piece of cake!)
Joel and Jeff (two of the guides) pull out the map and show us where we're headed. I'm eager to get going to find out what it's going to be like hiking for several hours. The itinerary says we're going to have a "lovely 3+ mile hike through the beautiful forest". I can't wait! We're starting at 4400' and headed up to 6000' where we'll set up camp on the "edge of the forest".
We set off through the forest. We don't waste anytime. It feels like a very fast pace to me, but I'm constantly adjusting my pack, trying to get it to rest on my hips to take the pressure off my back. The trail is not very clear. Early on we're stepping over rocks and tree branches. Jeff has to go off ahead several times to find the easiest trail for us to walk. We have to back track alot. The trail is a mess . . . 
We see where the trail looks like it's been washed away in several places. There's even "yellow caution tape" out on the trail! We step over big rocks and evergreen trees. It's hard to keep stepping up with my big heavy plastic boots over all of this mess. Every time I have to take a big step up, my 60 lb+ pack, swings from side to side, off of my back and I lose my balance. (Walking in these boots is like walking in downhill ski boots!) 
After an hour or so, we take a break. We're told we will typically walk for 75 minutes and then take a 10 - 15 minute lunch break. We're supposed to eat 200 calories at each break. I thought that was going to be the easy part - eating! But I have no appetite and at each break I barely have time to drop my pack, put on something warm, pull out my water bottles (you can't have them hanging on the outside of the pack), and find something to eat.
It's still very early . . . I'm smiling! Actually, I'm having a lot of fun. It's an adventure and I like that, but I know it's going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done.
As we continue hiking, the terrain gets more and more difficult. I can't believe the destruction from the floods. I guess there was real bad flooding in 2006 and alot of what we were walking through is the result. It was unbelieveable. To me, it looked like an avalanche had swept through the area. Here we are walking through downed trees, over more rocks. It's hard stepping over these big trees!!
My groug takes a short break to look at the destruction.
A picture of the big evergreens that are pushed downhill. Unbelievable!!
More trees pushed forward down the mountain . . .
Anders looking up at something. Probably a plane flying overhead. He's a pilot for Southwest Airlines.
We continue on our hike on a beautiful day.
More stepping over big trees . . .
Oh my gosh . . . crossing the streams was the trickiest and scariest part of the day's hike. It doesn't show it here, but the water was moving fast and the rocks in the stream were always submerged in the water. I was nervous to step on them, thinking they'd be real slippery and I'd crash into the water. I really didn't want to be soaking wet during my first night in camp in the snow! At this one stream, it was too wide for me to take a step across. I stepped down from the bank and fell (but didn't get wet), but couldn't get back up due to the weight of my pack!! Jeff, came over and pulled on my pack which enabled me to get to my feet. Then Kate, one of the guides, crossed the stream and held out her ski pole for me. I had to grab the end of it and she helped me balance so I could make it across.
Thankfully, I make it across without getting wet. By this time, half of the group finds an easier way a bit downstream, to get across.
After we cross this last stream we're out of the forest. We're heading up Glacier Basin toward the Inter Glacier. At our last break, I hear Joel tell Kate to take the lead and to set a fast pace. (Weren't we already walking fast? I must be getting too old for this kind of stuff.) As we head away from the forest onto the start of the glacier and all snow, the sun starts to disappear. We've been hiking for over an hour since our last break. The slope is getting steeper and steeper and the wind is starting to whip around. I'm right behind Kate, trying to keep up with her every step, because I'm losing strength and I feel if I lose contact I'll fall way behind. One of the guys behind me yells "can we have a short water break?". Kate says "no - we're almost there, just 5 more minutes". The 5 minutes turns out to be 25 minutes and we are exhausted. The guides knew something we didn't. The weather was turning bad on us very quickly. Of course you can't tell it from this picture. This is a view, looking back down toward the forest, where we had just hiked from. We were ready to set up camp for the night.
As soon as we get to our campsite (around 3:30pm), the guides waste no time it getting to work. One starts preparing the ground for the three tents for the climbers, another is working on the site for the "cook tent", a third is cutting out snow blocks, and the fourth is preparing the spots for the bathroom!! Here are Joel & Kate shoveling a flat area for our tents.
Again, you can't tell it from this picture, but the wind is kicking up and the guides are shoveling frantically. We, the climbers, are standing around wondering what to do. Pretty quickly, Kate starts yelling at us to pull the tents from our packs and get them set up. (This is when it would have been handy to know who had which tent, poles, and fly so we could have been a bit more organized.) We spend the next 2 hours putting up the tents in the whipping wind. We learn to use our ice axes and trekking poles as stakes to tie the tents to. Jeff cuts out snow blocks to build a partial wall around our tents and the cook tent. This is to help shield us from the wind.This is a picture of Jeff and Ken making their way up to our campsite . . . 
The rest of the group is trying to find something warm to wear and looking for tents and poles so that we can get set up for the night.
After the tents are set up, one of the guides starts boiling the water in the cook tent. We are called down for "dinner". It's around 6:30pm. We are each given some hot water to add to our freeze dried meals. To my surprise, my lasagna is very good and filling. I have hot chocolate with my dinner. We're done and back in our tents by 7:30pm - 8pm. It's windy out . . . and it will get much worse as the night goes on.
The rest of the night's story doesn't have any pictures . . . as we lay in our tent (Pete, Anders, & me - on the far outside) we talk about the day and we listen to the wind. It's windy, but not too bad. We fall asleep by 10pm.
The rest of the group is trying to find something warm to wear and looking for tents and poles so that we can get set up for the night.
After the tents are set up, one of the guides starts boiling the water in the cook tent. We are called down for "dinner". It's around 6:30pm. We are each given some hot water to add to our freeze dried meals. To my surprise, my lasagna is very good and filling. I have hot chocolate with my dinner. We're done and back in our tents by 7:30pm - 8pm. It's windy out . . . and it will get much worse as the night goes on.The rest of the night's story doesn't have any pictures . . . as we lay in our tent (Pete, Anders, & me - on the far outside) we talk about the day and we listen to the wind. It's windy, but not too bad. We fall asleep by 10pm.
Around midnight, I notice the wind is getting stronger and stronger. The tent is whipping in the wind. A little later, the whole tent is bending. (But I'm thinking, poles are made to bend.) With several more gusts of wind, the whole tent bends over from Pete's side (who's on the outside) to my side. It bends so far over, that the top poles of the tent are smacking me on the side of the face. I try to push the poles back up with my hands. I don't hear a word from either Pete or Anders during this time. (I wonder how Pete can breathe.) If the tent is folding down on me, he must be smothered. I yell out his name several times & he finally answers. He has his earplugs in and is down inside his sleeping bag. At some point, we hear frantic voices outside. We know our tent is taking a beating but don't know how bad it is. At some point, we realize some of our poles are broken. The guides are unbelievable, they're working frantically to secure out tents. Apparently, Tim & Robert's two man tent ripped early on and they got the guides out of their tents to help. Eventually, the fly on our tent rips and the snow starts to fill in at the front area where we have our packs and boots. As time goes on, the snow fills up this "hole" and buries my pack and boots. Since I can't find my boots, I get scared that they've blown down the mountain (we're camped on the slope of the mountain --- sure wish we had camped on the edge of the forest like the itinerary indicated!). Katy digs out my boots around 2am & I'm relieved to see them --- and I can get out to go to the bathroom! The storm continues on for hours and hours. We can't believe how bad it is. Some of the other climbers are out working on building up the snow wall to help shield the tents from the wind. It's snowing and pelting ice. Around 2:30am everyone is back in their tents, but the storm continues on for hours. We finally fall asleep around 4:30am. It is a very scary night. I keep praying for the wind to ease up and for our tents not to tear apart. I can't imagine how we will survive if we don't have shelter. I keep thinking, "we're only at 6000', I can't imagine what it's like for those at Camp Schurman or Camp Muir at 10,000' or even the top of the mountain at 14,000'+". ----- The next morning, we will find out just how deadly the storm was.
