Even though I left super early anticipating a loooong drive down to Mt Rainier National Park, the parking lot was insane when I got there. That must be indicative of popular trails by the bigger cities of Seattle and Tacoma. The road up to Mowich Lake to get to the trailhead was heavily washboarded dirt. Almost 17 miles of heavily washboarded dirt! I've seen super pot-holed roads, but this was slick with gravel and I had to put it in 4wd because I was fish-tailing. The dust was so bad that it was hard to see. My XTerra was so dusty that someone did this.
The trail up wasn't super steep, although the inclines slowed me to snail pace. Not racing snail pace either. Sllooooowwww. A lot of it is through forest so the shade was nice.
Pretty soon I was at Eunice Lake. What a pretty alpine lake tucked up against rocky cliffs. If you look way up at the top of the ridge you can see Tolmie Peak Lookout, where I was heading.
There were TONS of bugs on this trail! Mosquitoes, deer flies, and some kind of large biting flies that look like bees. These gorgeous blue butterflies were a nice bug to see though.
There was a little pond/puddle just before I got to the lake which was full of tadpoles. Cute little things. Hopefully they grow legs before the puddle dries up!
There were beautiful wildflowers all over. Most were around Eunice Lake, but there were some along the trail here and there, as well as at Mowich Lake.
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| Heather |
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| Maybe spent Mountain Oxytropis? Unsure |
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| Lupine |
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| Beargrass |
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| Penstemon |
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| Avalanche lily |
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| Jeffrey's shooting star |
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| Paintbrush |
The lookout was fairly crowded with people, but I climbed up the stairs and looked around. The view of Mt Rainier from the lookout was absolutely stunning. Especially with Eunice Lake below.
The bugs were so bad that I took the sarong out of my pack and put it up over my hat to protect my neck, arms and back a little more and make less places for them to get into my face. I even had DEET on, but I am starting to think these suckers like it.
On the way back there was a quiet between other hikers and this curious little doe came out through the woods.
When I got back to the car I swapped my hiking boots for sandals and went down to Mowich Lake and went for a nice swim. From Mowich (along the trail side) there is only a peekaboo view of Mt Rainier.
On the way down the dirt road, I had a tire pressure light. I get those a lot as the sensors are super sensitive. I started to think the Xterra was driving and sounding different, so I pulled over to check. I had a FLAT tire. Amazingly enough, where I pulled over there were two men admiring the panorama and they came over immediately and the younger man started changing my tire. I admitted I had never changed my tire before and asked him if he had. He said actually he was a mechanic!! He had me all squared away in about 15 minutes. That man is a true hero.
Keep on adventuring!
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