Mt. Stuart

Weather prevented us from attempting the Kautz route on Mt Rainier.
 Getting ready to leave the trailhead with Al and Andy. 

So we thought the east side of the Cascades would give us better weather conditions.

The access to Stuart Peak via Long Pass looked promising

And we were cheered on by a family of goats

From Long Pass we could see the base of Stuart Peak and our potential route

But the summit was socked in.

Of course everyone who knows me, knows how I love log crossings. 

But we found camp..

and relaxed

and built a fire...

the wild flowers didn't seem to worry

We woke to drizzle and low ceilings in the morning and decided to stick close to camp

we hiked to Ingalls Lake for something to do

The lake was still frozen, and soon the rains found us

lunch protected from the wind 

back at camp, Al built his fire, which was welcomed

Stuart was still socked in

so we kept warm and dried off

and found time to nap when the rain stopped

still, the wild flowers seem not to worry

Some blue sky lifted our spirits and hopes of a climb

the next morning we started up the Cascadian Couloir 

Cascadian  Couloir 

And the clouds followed

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Andy always encouraging us upward

contemplating 

After a little further in rime ice, wind and low visibility, we turned back 200' from the summit

for more great pictures from Andy, see his blog with some great photo shots
http://myadventuresinthemountains.blogspot.com/2014/07/mt-stuart-instead-of-kautz.html 

Andy, here is a picture for Margaret! 

A hot fire welcomed us back in camp

Back on Long Pass, we could now see the clouds leaving, but we never saw the summit of Stuart.