Ten Years Later, Everyone Was Already Awake

This one's a first for us: a post we're writing together!

Which is fitting, because we had pretty different weekends. For Karthika, Rainier was a reunion — university friends she hadn't been in the same room with in about ten years, plus a few partners and extended friends. For Kyle, it was walking into a group of eight where most of the faces were brand new.

Two carloads of four, one mountain, two trails, and about thirty-six hours to get it all in.

Saturday: The Easy One

We drove up Saturday morning and started on the Sunrise side, coming in through the Chinook Pass entrance — the big log-and-stone arch over WA-410 that makes you feel like you've officially arrived somewhere.

We did the Naches Peak Loop, which turned out to be Kyle's favorite of the two hikes, and not because it was the more impressive one. It wasn't as intense, it was a lot less populated, and it left room to actually talk to people. Tipsoo Lake sitting there in the meadow, a signpost where the loop shares a stretch with the Pacific Crest Trail, and enough quiet to hear each other.

The log-and-stone Mount Rainier National Park arch over WA-410 at Chinook Pass

A wooden trail signpost for Tipsoo Lake, Naches Peak Loop, and the Pacific Crest Trail

Which mattered, because Kyle was doing the thing you do when you're the new person: showing up with extra energy, asking questions, reading the room. That lasted about an hour. Everyone was genuinely friendly and welcoming, and as soon as the jokes started flowing, we were all good.

From Karthika: I truly appreciated how easily Kyle blended in with everyone — asking really insightful questions and just laughing along. The next day, one of my friends told me, "Kyle is the perfect match for you." Which was amazing to hear.

We got the whole group together at a viewpoint as the light went gold behind the mountain. Eight people, one photo, everyone still clean and un-exhausted. That doesn't last.

Saturday Night: Indian Pizza, Indian Whiskey, Two Birthdays

We stayed at an Airbnb down in Ashford. Nothing fancy — comfortable for eight, which is really the only requirement.

The friend who planned most of the weekend had the food sorted: Indian pizza, and Indian whiskey to go with it. Both very tasty, both slightly disorienting in the best way after a day on trail.

It was also a double birthday — Karthika's, plus one of the other folks in the group — so there was a vegan coconut cake, which Karthika loved. (Kyle is now mildly concerned about how much she's been talking about veganism lately. Kyle really likes cheese. This is an ongoing negotiation.)

The night ended in the hot tub — eight of us packed in, still talking, a 6 a.m. start hanging over the morning and nobody treating that as a reason to get out.

Somewhere in there Kyle got the college stories — including the one where Karthika used to wake everybody up at 6 a.m. for soccer practice. Watching your partner in college-friend mode is a specific and very funny pleasure. There's a whole earlier version of a person in there, and their old friends can summon it in about four seconds.

Sunday: Paradise, and a Bear

We got up at 6 a.m. to beat the lines at Paradise. Ten years on, Karthika didn't have to wake anyone up. Everyone was already awake, on their own, coffee in hand. That's the whole reunion in one image, honestly.

There were elk out in the meadow in front of the house on our way out, which felt like a good omen. The early start worked — sort of. We got parking relatively close to the trailhead. It was still packed for how early it was. Paradise is Paradise, after all.

The Skyline Loop is the more challenging of the two hikes and, to be fair, the payoff is meaningfully better. The mountain was fully out. What stuck with Karthika most was the water: streams coming straight off the glacier and feeding into these marshy, meadowy pockets that were just an explosion of green with thin channels of water threading through them. Alpine and lush at the same time.

The wildlife day was absurd. Marmots, simply chilling in the meadow, having a great time, entirely unbothered by us. Mountain goats twice — once from a viewpoint so far out that even with 30x zoom on a phone, we were essentially photographing a white blob, and then again on the way down at maybe 300 feet, where you could actually see them being goats.

Five of the group smiling on the Skyline Loop with Rainier filling the sky behind them

Kyle and Karthika on the Skyline Loop with other hikers on the trail behind them

And then, near the end of the loop, a black bear walked across the trail.

We were about 200 feet away and very intentionally not interested in getting closer, with a volunteer ranger helping keep everyone spaced out and sensible. It ambled across, paused, and looked back up the hill at us. We were thrilled. So were the fifty other people standing there with their phones up. It was the least wilderness-feeling bear encounter imaginable and we didn't care even slightly.

The Drive Home, and Sunday Night in Kirkland

On the way back we stopped at the Copper Creek Inn in Ashford — a cute old diner spot just outside the Nisqually entrance. The food was decent, not amazing. The vibe was good. It has apparently been running since 1946 and claims to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Washington, which we found out afterward and which explains a lot about the energy of the place.

Then everyone came back to our place in Kirkland on Sunday night. It was Labor Day weekend, which is the only reason eight wrecked people still had it in them to stay up for board games on a Sunday.

The prior day and a half had been fast — drive, hike, eat, sleep, hike — and this was the first stretch where we just got to hang out. We played Sushi Go. Karthika won one round, Kyle won the other, and we made a point of not bringing that up to anyone.

Kyle also got to show off the puzzles he's made and the amigurumi animals he's crocheted, which people actually picked up and messed with rather than politely admiring. Everyone was impressed with the production quality, which is the exact compliment you want.

Hosting eight people the night after two hikes and a two-hour drive was ambitious. It was also the right call.

From Karthika: Part of me had been worried that meeting up after ten years would mean trying to build a new friendship from scratch. It was so nice to find that rhythm again. One of the friends on this trip was my best friend from college — she lived right across the hall from me — and by the end of the weekend I felt like we'd found that bond again. It was just the most wholesome thing.

Most Memorable Moments

Nobody Needed Waking Up

Karthika's college friends still tell the story of her banging on doors at 6 a.m. for soccer practice. Ten years later we set a 6 a.m. alarm to beat the crowds at Paradise, and she didn't have to wake a single person — everyone was already up. Same people, same hour, no nagging required. It's a small thing that says a lot about a decade passing.

The Bear on the Trail

Near the end of the Skyline Loop, a black bear walked out onto the path about 200 feet ahead of us. A volunteer ranger kept everyone back and spaced out, which we were more than happy to comply with. It crossed, stopped, and looked back up the hill at a crowd of maybe fifty people all holding their phones up. Not a wilderness moment in any real sense. Still one of the best things that happened all weekend.

"Kyle Is the Perfect Match for You"

The day after Kyle met most of the group for the first time, one of Karthika's oldest friends pulled her aside to say it. Getting the stamp of approval from the people who knew her at twenty is a different kind of validation than anything we could give each other.

The White Blob That Was Definitely a Goat

First mountain goat sighting was from a viewpoint so distant that 30x phone zoom produced a convincing photo of a small white smudge. On the way down we got a proper look at maybe 300 feet, which retroactively confirmed the smudge.

Two Birthdays, One Coconut Cake

Karthika's birthday and another friend's landed on the same weekend, celebrated at the Ashford Airbnb with Indian pizza, Indian whiskey, and a vegan coconut cake. The cake was excellent. Kyle remains nervous about where the veganism conversation is heading.

Sushi Go at 11 p.m.

Everyone came back to our place in Kirkland on Sunday night for board games, which was the first real unhurried hang of the whole weekend. Karthika took one round, Kyle took the other, and we said nothing about it to anybody. It broke up around eleven — a sleepy, satisfied goodbye from eight completely wrecked people.

Logistics & Practical Information

ACCOMMODATION

Airbnb in Ashford, about ten minutes from the Nisqually entrance. Nothing remarkable about the house itself, but it comfortably slept eight, it had a hot tub, and there were elk out in the front meadow on Sunday morning. For a group splitting the cost, Ashford is the obvious base for anything Paradise-side.

TRANSPORTATION

Two cars, four people each, from the Seattle area. Note that Sunrise/Chinook Pass and Paradise are on opposite sides of the park and are not quickly connected — doing one each day with an Ashford overnight in between is the sane way to see both.

NOTABLE FOOD

Ashford (Saturday night): Indian pizza and Indian whiskey, brought in by the friend who planned the trip. Highly recommend if you can engineer it.
Copper Creek Inn on WA-706: old-school diner just outside the Nisqually entrance, running since 1946. Food is fine, not a destination. The atmosphere is the point — and the blackberry pie is what it's famous for.

ACTIVITIES

Naches Peak Loop (Sunrise): Easy, gorgeous, and far less crowded than anything at Paradise. Tipsoo Lake and a stretch shared with the PCT. The one we'd recommend if you want to actually talk to the people you came with.
Chinook Pass viewpoints: Golden hour with the mountain lit up behind the group. We got our best photo of the trip here.
Skyline Loop (Paradise): Harder, busier, better views. Glacier-fed streams running down into bright green marshy meadows, marmots in the grass, mountain goats on the rock, and — if you're lucky — a bear.

Tips for Travelers

6 a.m. gets you parking, not solitude

We got a spot near the trailhead. The trail was still packed. Adjust your expectations accordingly, or go do Naches Peak instead.

Do both sides if you have the weekend

Naches Peak and Skyline are genuinely different experiences — one is a stroll with your friends, the other is a workout with a view. Ashford in between makes it work.

Listen to the volunteer rangers

The bear encounter stayed a great memory instead of a story with a bad ending because someone was there keeping fifty excited people at a sensible distance.

Reflections & Final Thoughts

The mountain was out both days, which is never guaranteed. The bear showed up. The goats cooperated, eventually. And then there was a living room in Kirkland at eleven o'clock on a Sunday night, eight exhausted people who'd been strangers to one of us forty-eight hours earlier, packing up a card game and saying a very sleepy goodbye.

Ten years later, nobody had to start over.