My Other Adventures

Paradise to Camp Muir

We had hoped to get started early but by the time we registered at the ranger station and took care of other things, we ended up starting the hike at 9 am.

The trail to Camp Muir consists of two parts. The first part has a trail, paved in places, that takes you about 2 miles to the start of the snowfield. From that point, it's 2.5 miles and 2800 vertical feet to Camp Muir.

The total distance was 4.5 miles, with 5000 feet of elevation gain. It took us over 8 hours to do this hike, and we were in pain by the end of the hike. John had suggested early on that we use our day packs rather than our larger heavier camping packs. This was a good decision as it limited the amount of stuff we took. Instead of 90-pound packs, we ended up with more like 60-pound packs. The drawback was that the day packs were not designed for that amount of gear, and they became uncomfortable early on.

Camp Muir consisted of a few public huts, a ranger hut, and a guide hut. We leveled a spot in the snow and pitched our two tents. The view, however, was spectacular. Don't be fooled by the sunshine, as it never got above freezing the entire trip. Before dark, the clouds covered Camp Muir and snow started falling. We got about 1/4 inch of snow during the night.