Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Camp Muir & Anvil Rock
Fantastic day above the clouds! Originally planned to scramble up Muir Peak, but changed it to the more interesting and scenic side trip to Anvil Rock on the way down from Muir.
Nancy Lloyd
- Sun, May 20, 2018
- Alpine Scramble - Camp Muir & Anvil Rock
- Camp Muir & Anvil Rock
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Started at 7:30 a.m. with fairly firm snow. Put on crampons to go up to Panorama Point and beyond for additional traction, but they really weren't needed. The usual large number of people, but not as many as I expected. We had lunch at Muir, then headed down and up Anvil Rock and had the whole place to ourselves with eye-popping views of the Cowlitz Glacier crevasses and seracs - more dramatic than Camp Muir. The trip down after about 45 mins. at Anvil was a post holing struggle in very soft, mashed potato snow often almost up to our knees. We opted to not bring snowshoes to cut back on pack weight, but they would've helped on the less steep slopes.
Some clouds at Paradise in the morning. We ascended into mostly clear skies, with very comfortable, cool temps and almost no wind. The tops of Mts. Adams, St. Helens, Goat Rocks, and even Mt. Hood were visible above the extensive low cloud layer. The descent took us into thick fog with about 20 feet visibility. Not a white-out, but my gps track was very helpful in getting us back to the parking lot. A great glissade down from Panorama Pt!
