After that, the trail got narrower and steeper. The buds on the vines and trees were just starting to open up and the waterproofing spray I’d applied to my jacket was doing its job. There was a constant but modest incline and a lovely stream that we were following. We shouldered our packs in the 41 degree rain (hey I did say it was the Pacific Northwest, right?) and headed up the trail.

We stopped at a grocery store for supplies (sunflower seeds and granola bars for me, Ramen for Adam) and then finished the drive to the parking area at the base of the trail. Rainier must be an easy 14000’ mountain to climb. That should have been more foreboding than it was but all that occurred to me was that Mt. On the drive out for the hike he mentioned that he was excited that I’d chosen to climb Mailbox Peak since it’s considered the best hike to train for Mt. To quote Archer, “Someone get some duct tape, because this guy is ripped!” I should also add that I happen to be a tubby guy (round is a shape!) and I may have been suffering from delusions of grandeur. Go here to donate and here to pick up a t-shirt or sticker) and is in fantastic shape. My friend Adam is in training to climb Mt Ranier this summer (He’s raising money for the National Park.

There’s a bit of background that’s important here. Naturally, I requested the harder of the two since I love a good death march. Two days before we arrived, we were discussing options and he mentioned that he had two options both were about a 6 mile round trip but one was a lot harder than the other. We were planning a trip to Seattle to visit some friends of ours and the husband and I were planning a one day hike. Warning: all pictures were taken by my friend with a cell phone so they So let me start the story with the following the hike was a 6.4 mile roundtrip with a 4200’ elevation gain, no I didn’t die, yes my legs almost fell off, and the recovery time was three days.

Mailbox peak