Gold Hill Cabin Snowshoe Trip

Our private cabin for the trip (near Mt Rainier and Crystal Mountain)

It was back in November I climbed up into the attic and dusted off a pair of snowshoes. I’ve been ready for the snow since. But it wasn’t until January that I really put the snowshoes to work. One of my goals for January is to get out and do 5 days of snowshoeing. 4 days down now, one more day to go!

This was a fun trip to be a part of with the Inter-Mountain Alpine Club. There are few cabins remaining in the local national parks and we got access to a private cabin that is roughly a 2 mile hike from the highway near Chinook Pass. That is if you can actually make the drive there. Luckily I brought chains for my RAV4 and we were able to get close enough to our trail for the start of our hike.

Hiking into a cabin in the snow is a really amazing experience, and it also meant for me that I could be out in the wilderness taking photos after sunset and before sunrise with just a short hike back to a warm bed. So yeah, count me in!

Russel, Mafer and I were the first to arrive so we started our own trek right on highway 410.

With a group of 11 people we headed into the trees and up towards the cabin. Trekking 2 miles in deep powder feels longer than 2 miles should be, but there’s definitely not a lack of beauty to consume. And doing this with a group does make it a whole lot easier. Kind of like geese in a flying V, you can rotate for the person in the lead who has to break fresh snow.

Seeing the cabin was quite a warming sight. We all got settled in and warm by the fire before I headed out for sunset photos.

Luckily I wasn’t completely by myself for my evening hike and got to trek along further along with a couple and their dog through the fresh, untampered, snow.

Here’s six 360 photos you can zoom in/out and pan all the way around in a circle.

Sunset was not too spectacular with the clouds not wanting to open much at all. I have no reception out here so no way of checking the weather radar. I was just hoping I would get a little luckier for sunrise in the morning. At this point, I was sure everyone was back in the cabin enjoying a cooked meal, and I had a trek to make to get back.

I got out early in the morning and there was still a cloud/fog cover. I decided to take a different direction and opted for a steeper climb hoping to get above the fog and wait for an opening in the clouds. I got about 10 minutes of a partial cloud break to the south where the moon started to be visible.

I continued hiking up and waiting for another break in the clouds. But the clouds above just got heavier. I had heard about another smaller cabin further in and went to check it out.