Looking Up at Glacier Basin Sunset from Glacier Basin Moon Over Sloan Peak Morning View of Mts Baker and Shuksan Morning View of Mt Rainier Sitkum Spire with Mts Baker and Shuksan Climbing the Ridge above Sitkum Spire View of the Suiattle Glacier View Across to the Summit Glacier Peak Crater Panorama At the Summit of Glacier Peak Terminus of the Sitkum Glacier

We descended quickly in the afternoon warmth, following the same route we had climbed. This view looks back up the Sitkum Glacier from just below the notch in the middle, with portions of the upper glacier visible at upper left and along the right skyline. We returned to camp by 4 pm, quite tired, and discovered that a marmot had chewed a hole in our tent and gone in for a look around, even though we had left no food inside. We decided to cook a quick dinner and rest a little bit to re-energize us for the long hike out. We soon set off and hurried down the trail, reaching the car by headlamp around 9:30 pm. We felt utterly drained, mainly by the long approach and exit hikes, since the climb itself was fairly easy. It would be more comfortable to do this climb as a three-day trip, by sleeping a second night at Boulder Basin after summiting and then hiking back to the trailhead the morning of the third day.