Snowshoe hike and video on Monday - 26 January 2022

Trapped for days in a ground-hugging fog, we sought escape on Monday, 24 January 2022.  The weather report had gotten monotonous: day after day of heavy fog warnings in "lowland areas" covered the entire Puget Sound area.  Fog filled the valleys of metropolitan Seattle all day and the Weather Service extended the warnings each day for yet another day.  We had some days of pretty steady rain before that, so we were getting stir-crazy.  Another case of COVID cabin fever struck.  The fog went up to about 3000 feet and there was rumored to be sun above, so we knew where we had to go - to the mountains.  But not just any "mountains".  Stevens Pass is only about 3000 feet, barely above the fog, so we decided to go for Mount Rainier.

We usually head for the Henry Jackson Visitor Center at the Paradise area in Mount Rainier National Park (MRNP).  We have been there many times over the years, usualy a couple times each year.  It is easy access, has plenty of parking (if you arrive early enough), and the Paradise area is open year-round.  We visit the Sunrise area during the summer and shoulder seasons, but it is a bit farther and, well, it closes in the winter so it is not open until June or so?  The route to Paradise takes us through Puyallup, Elbe, Longmire, and up the part road to Paradise.  Our travel was uneventful.  We left the house about 9am (against an 8:30am target departure) and arrived with plenty of room to be found.  Of course, the 24th of January was a Monday, so we were riding the benefits of a retired life.  On the weekend, the crowds are sure to be much larger.

We grabbed our snowshoes, poles, and packs, and headed for the trail to Camp Muir.  Normally, there are some broad stairs and asphalt trails to welcome visitors, but all that was buried under snow.   We rather followed the asphalt trails but they are hard to find under the snow - and irrelevant.  However, muscle memory in the legs from all those summer visits lead one to familiar routes.  A few people were out with hiking boots but we were glad to have snowshoes.  Very simply, we did not have to look where we were walking.  Postholing was not a concern and we did not have to choose compacted routes;  the area of the snowshoes spreads our weight.  With the claws and heals on the snowshoes, we could walk a straight line that took us straight up a slope or allowed us to wander without fear of sliding sideways.  The younger set may not need poles, but the older crew finds them helpful to pull or restrain on slopes and very handy for balance.  We walked to a point a bit above the Dancefloor, closer to the Nisqually canyon, appreciated the views, and then headed down by the Dancefloor.  

The views were grand.  We could see the whole area above the fog in the valleys.  Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens stood proud on the horizon to the south, the Tatoosh Range clearly visible, and, of course, Tahoma herself to the north.  There was the odd cloud or contrail across the sky, but bright blue burned all around and above.  The temperatures were astounding - hot.  We did not measure the temperature, but a fellow hiker told us it was in the upper-60F range.  He said 67F, and while I am reluctant to believe that exact number, I did have to stop twice to remove layers of insulation.  I ended up wearing a wicking t-shirt and a "fishing" shirt.  It did get chilly in the shade, but we spent most of the time above the tree-line, so the sun warmed us virtually the entire time.  It was quite comfortable when walking, but I did put on my puffy sweater when we stopped.  Most of the people around us were also hiking in various ways (mostly snowshoes but several boots), and one guy even had a sled that he was pulling.  I guess he was going to spend the night at Camp Muir.  And there were a handful of skiers.  The overall hike was 2.5 miles (round-trip) in 2:00 hours, and the vertical rise was 870 feet.  Paradise is right around 5000 feet altitude.  

I grabbed some photos, but I used this outing as a training ground for GoPro video.  In the past, I have done timelapse and even Time Warp to some degree of success, but with this trip I wanted to do some post-processing to produce a more structured video. I did skip the bit about preparing a story - my "story" was to be a snowshoe hike on Mount Rainier - so I planned for a series of clips.  To this end, I chose Video > Cinematic at 4K, 24fps, SuperView, and auto-steady (I think GoPro calls it hypersteady or similar).  I used handheld with no special adaptations (no external stabilizer, just the in-camera features).  On the route up, I started with shorter clips, a minute or so each and mostly panoramas, and on the return down, I took longer clips while in motion.  I ended up with about 20 minutes of video that I cut down to 14 minutes in DaVinci Resolve 17.  My first edit ran over the YouTube limit of 15 minutes, so my second version cut that down to almost exactly 14 minutes and I added some titles.  I did nothing with the audio and I only used fades on the title sections - no fancy crossfades.  

(Note - although I can adjust the placement of the photos, Blogger insists on centering the video.)