Mount Rainier - July 10, 2011

On Sunday a friend of mine, Tracy, joined me in a tour of Mount Rainier.  I didn’t just want to show up in August and say, “hi there, Rainier… I’m here to climb you.”  Visiting ahead of time to get re-acquainted after so long, seemed the polite thing to do.  The day was a bit cloudy, but we were in great luck!  The clouds gathered and cleared throughout the day, providing many beautiful views of The Mountain.

We enjoyed a short leg-stretcher at Grove of the Patriarchs.  I am just naturally a tree hugger.  I like the look of trees, the feel of them, looking way up into their branches and examining the whirls and grooves of their bark and trunk.  There are always a lot of people on this trail, since it is only 1.5 miles round trip, mostly flat, but I highly recommend it.  It is entrancing to walk through the wildflower-strewn woods, cross onto an island in the Ohanapecosh, and then walk around on a boardwalk where you are dwarfed and awed by massive cedar and Douglas fir around 1000 years old.

We had no agenda, so we stopped at almost every pullout with a view, attraction, or critter.  One of the pullouts is Box Canyon.  The Cowlitz River here is white with glacial till and also white where it churns along at the bottom of the deep channel it has carved straight down into the rock.  The distance from the bridge to the water surface is 180 ft.  I think this mountain we could see to the south from Box Canyon was Mount Adams (if someone knows otherwise, please let me know).

Here it was very cool to see this amazing swath of destruction cut by an avalanche.  The distance this force of nature roared down into the valley, wiping out forest as it went, was impressive.

We stopped at many waterfalls.  One of these is Falls Creek Falls, but I can’t remember which! 

This is Christine Falls.  It has two upper parts and then a 3rd lower cascade going down under the bridge.

At Paradise people were all over the snow with their sleds and other snow toys.  There is still a lot up there after a higher than normal snowfall and a late melt.  It was really pretty, and again a view of the Mountain, this time up close.  I am both intimidated and excited to be planning my climb… about 3 weeks to go!

Wildflowers were also plentiful on this trip.  The avalanche lily is one of my favorites up here.

Lake Louise had some snow on it still.

We were lucky to see a beautiful fox.  It was charcoal gray instead of red and stunning against the snow.  I was not able to get my camera out before he disappeared into the trees.  We also saw a several deer, one a doe with fawns.  I tried for a photo of the fawns, but my battery ran out.  It wasn’t my day for photographing wildlife.  I did get this shot of a gray jay or camp robber.

We finished out our trip at Longmire, where we did the little .7 mi nature loop.  Here there are cold bubbling springs, once thought to be medicinal (but they contain some nasty stuff so don’t taste).  The Longmire family sold this water as a cure all and a cabin built by their son still stands.  The nature trail loops around the marshy lake which the springs bubble up in and around.  Some geese were hanging out there, and a beaver was swimming around. 

Here is a cool old tour bus that is kept at Longmire. 

Get out there!