Hike to Mowich Lake (almost)

Since Mike was out of town I decided to have a little slumber party on Friday night. Brianne, Mary, Katie and Jim came over for bar-b-qued hamburgers and then Cold Stone. Brianne and Mary spent the night so Saturday morning we could leave early for Mt. Rainier. The 5 of us left the 70 degree weather and headed up to Mt. Rainer National Park. The goal was to hike 6 miles round trip to Mowich Lake. When we started out on the hike it was sunny, warm and not a sign of snow. So against Mary's better judgement we left the snowshoes in the car. After 20 minutes of hiking up hill we turned a corner and the road was covered with about 3-4 feet of snow! My first thought was what Mike was going to say when I tell him I let us hike to Mowich lake without snowshoes - he did not disappoint me! I was determined not to let our trip be ruined so Mary, Jim and I ran back the car to grab the snowshoes. So thirty minutes later we were on the road again. Things were going well until I realized that we were not going to find the trail to the lake since the sign was probably covered in snow. We kept heading up hill without hopes of seeing the lake. After about 2 hours of hiking straight uphill we all had enough and decided to turn around and head back to town for Panini's and beer. Once we got back home and rested up, we all met again to introduce Brianne and Mary to Sushi! After dinner I spent the night with Brianne and Mary and we spent Sunday hanging out around the apartment since it was cloudy and rainy.