Some days, it all comes down to how do you define success. Perhaps for Lt. August V. Kautz, success was climbing Mount Rainier and getting back down alive, despite not-so-great equipment, bad weather, not enough food, and not reaching the summit. After staring up to Mount Rainier’s heights from Fort Steilacoom along the Puget Sound, Lt. Kautz started out July 8th, 1857, to realize his dream of standing on the top of Mount Rainier. A lot of us who see the mountain from the sound can probably understand this desire. How many times have we heard, “did you see, the mountain is out.”
With a doctor and four soldiers, Lt. Kautz began his trip on horseback to almost where Eatonville is today, where a guide named Wapowety joined two of the soldiers, Dr. Craig and Lt. Kautz to hike from there to the Nisqually River, up the river to the glacier and then up the side of the mountain. By July 14th, they started their final effort to summit Mount Rainier. One by one, the climbers dropped out because of becoming snowblind, exhaustion, and weather. Lt. Kautz himself called it quits near what we call Point Success today. He wrote
"Finally we reached what may be called the top, for although there were points higher yet, the mountain spread out comparatively flat, and it was much easier to get along . . . . It was after six o'clock and the ice was forming in my canteen and to stay on the mountain at such a temperature was to freeze to death for we brought no blankets with us." Nature Notes. June, 1937
Though all survived the attempt, the men were so gaunt from lack of food and extreme effort, that no one recognized them when they made it back to the forts along the Puget Sound.
From the Canyon Rim viewpoint (about 7.2 miles above Longmire on the road to Paradise), you can see the Nisqually River, and Nisqually Glacier that they climbed right in front of you. To the left, you can see the Kautz Glacier as it drapes off the top of the mountain. And the tallest point (as it seems from this spot), is Point Success, where Lt. Kautz had to turn around. Sometimes, its hard to gauge success, but reaching a place that high up Mount Rainier and surviving looks like quite the accomplishment. Would you call it a success? ~ams
NPS Photo. Undated. Mount Rainier with road to Paradise and parking area on side.