Locations
Crash Course: From JBLM to Mount Rainier National Park
Joint Base Lewis-McChord
I can hardly recall the person I was before my time in the service, but I remember him as a naive fellow; outspoken for sure, but a little bit of a shut in. Very few friends, very few interests, generally glued to the T.V. Playing Call of Duty or whatever other video game was currently hot. Leaving home, and ending up in Tacoma Washington at JBLM, is my oldest memory of taking an adventurous leap.
All that is to say, I was significantly more interested in seeing what was out there once I had gotten out there, and it turns out a few of my training era buddies were as well. It was long enough ago that I can barely recall faces, let alone names, but Falbo and Cagiano were the ones who I went from Oklahoma to Washington with. What a great group of guys. I barely remember how we met, only the insanity we all survived together.
Every morning, as we would do our PT run around the airfield, we were all looking off in the distance at the same Giant: Mount Rainier. Getting stationed there was a once in a life time kinda thing, we would be fools not to go check it out, right? Young, dumb, and maybe something to prove? My recollection is that it didn’t take much convincing for anyone from anyone. Full send.
Mount Rainier National Park
From the airfield to the mountain’s welcome center, curtesy of Cagiano (the only one with a car), we quickly started stepping up the mountain, without a real care or any knowledge about where we were going. There was a very large and beautiful welcome center, I don’t believe we spent more than a few minutes in there; hazy memory and all.
One of my stronger memories of the experience was the first mile+ or so from the visitors center, which was completely paved, not the sort of thing you’d see in the Adirondacks, that’s for sure. The trail, all the way up to the base camp, was remarkably well kept, even when it stopped being paved, and even when the rocks lining the path began to dissipate. The lesson here for all my NY friends is that National Parks get the gold level treatment!
For whatever stupid reason, I attempted to “retrace” my recollection of our trip using AllTrails and Google Maps, but I’m not particularly confident about a whole ton of the details. I believe we had started at the Jackson Visitors Center and taken the trail directly up past Panorama Point. I also believe we had gotten pretty close to some sort of base camp or checkpoint of some sort. I want to say it was Camp Muir, but looking at pictures and other things online, I believe we had stoped quite a bit shorter than that.
What else do I remember? Walking through the clouds, calling each others’ names from no further than 2 or 3 feet away, since we couldn’t see much of anything, including the ground beneath our feet. Seeing other climbing up the trail, with gear that looked fairly capable. The trail changing from green and vibrant to white and grey in nearly the blink of an eye. The other hikers warning us that we wouldn’t be allowed past the base camp without the proper climbing gear.
It’s a blur, but one I’m particularly fond of.
