My father and I did a little hiking, camping, and kayaking in Florida when I was a kid, and I loved it. When I became a teenager, my father and I had a falling out which led to fist fights and such. Needless to say, we stopped doing things together.

Years later, I joined the Coast Guard and transferred to the Seattle area in January 2001, fresh from boot camp. As I looked out the back window of the taxi that was taking me to my new unit from the airport, I could see Mt. Rainier in the distance. The thought of being able to get out there and stomp all over that huge mountain was so exciting that it drove me crazy.

As soon as I arived at my new unit and got settled in, I was told that we were getting deployed the next week for six months. All I could think about for the next six months was those mountains.

When we got back to Seattle, things didn't work out too good for me - no gear and nobody to go with me. Most people in the military are more interested in drinking than going hiking.

Anyways, a year and a few months later, someone new transfers to my unit who's into hiking as much as I am, and by this time I have all brand new gear. We became friends the first day he was there and were hiking together a month later.

After a few months of hiking the North Cascades, we decided it was time to go see the big mountain (Mt. Rainier). We picked up a few maps of the area and spent a week looking at the maps trying to decide where we were going go. One day, we both decided on this little lake called Crystal Lake. From the maps it looked reachable and pretty secluded.

5am Saturday morning rolled around and off we went. We hit the trail head around 7am. About 5 hours later, we reached the point in the trail where we had to break trail and find our own way to the lake.

The trail got pretty rough pretty fast, and before we knew it, we were climbing up a mountain at a 55-65 degree angle. We weren't ready for this type of climb, so we had to find some sturdy braches to help with the climb. We had a roughy 7-foot-long wooden branch in each hand, thrusting the braches into the side of this mountain, followed by the toes of our boots. We literaly pulled ourselves up all the way, except that we never made it. When we reached what we thought was the top, we had about 20 yards of level ground until it went straight up.... for about 200 feet.

We atempted to get to that lake three more times that year. We never made it any of those times.

We got deployed again but when we got back, we decided to give the lake one more try.

We both put in for three days of leave so we could have a total of five days to make it to the lake. This was also going to be our last camping trip together because it was my time to transfer again. On our way to the trail head we stopped and picked up the back country camping pass you need to go camping off the trail.

After a grueling 12-mile 8500' elevation gain hike, we finally made it to where we decided to set up our base camp. We woke early the next morning as the sun was just starting to break over the top of the mountains. There was a layer of ice covering the rain fly when we came out. The next thing we noticed after the ice was the sea of clouds that ran off into the distace below us. We were only at 9500' elevation, but in the mornings during early early spring the clouds settle low around Mt. Rainier.

We spent the next two days exploring the area and looking for a way to the lake. We found a way that looked somewhat promising, yet very unstable and unsafe. The forth day, we woke to the sea of clouds and an ice covered rain fly again. We ate, packed our day packs, unpacked the rope, and set off for the lake once more.

The way we selected to go was nothing more than a 6" ridge of small loose rocks that circled around the side of a cliff. On either side of this little ridge, it went straight up and straight down... about 400 feet straight down.

Because I was the smaller one, I decided to go first. I tied one end of the rope to myself and the other to a tree that was near the cliff and off I went. I kept my back to the wall and made 50 yards to a little piece of level ground that had another small tree. I tied the other rope we had to this tree and then to myself, and untied the first rope and also tied it to the tree. My friend made it across to the tree and I set out again. Fifty yards is a long way when you have nothing to hold onto and a 400-foot drop on one side of you.

I finally made it to a place that looked good and waited for my friend. Once he reached where I was, we had to stop and take a few photos and have a snack. After a few minutes, we got up and kept going.

We knew we were close but we didn't know how close. We pushed our way up a hill through some thorn bushes that cut deep into our arms and legs. We weren't stopping for anything. We were so close to making it to this lake - the lake that for almost two years just kept laughing at us, taunting us.

Then it happened. We broke through the thorn bushes and over the hill, and there is was. I got such a rush from finally seeing it that I had to sit down and just stare at it. It was beautiful, worth every cut, scrape, bruise, bee sting, and twisted ankle.

The water was the clearest blue I've ever seen, and I've been to Antartica where the water is like no other, except there. We spent the next two hours enjoying the lake and the little island in the middle where we ate lunch.

The whole time at the lake I felt like something was missing, my father. I wish he could have seen it with me.

Anyways, when we made it back to our base camp, life seemed a little lighter. Funnny how nature can do that. That night I had the best sleep I've ever had.

A month later, I transfered. I took 30 days of leave between transfering from Seattle to South Carolina. With that 30 days, I went home to Florida and made amends with my father and showed him photos.

Now we're good friends and once a month I drive 9 hours there and 9 hours back just to see him for two days.

During that week on Mt. Rainier, your little three-season tent kept us warm and dry when there was still snow on the ground. If it wasn't for that little tent, we probably wouldn't have stayed up there long enough to see that lake. Thanks.

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Base Camp at 9,000 feet (with our Sierra Designs tent).

Morning clouds.

The view at the much-anticipated lake.

Cold water baths at 9,480 feet.