Sunrise, Mt Rainier 08-04-2018

Hoping to see some wildflowers and my favorite mountain, Dave and I went headed out early without the dogs on Saturday.  We saw there was a nice short hike to a lake at the viewpoint before arriving at Sunrise and intended to go up to the visitor center, look around the meadows and then head back for the hike. 
Instead when we got into the meadows we were so absorbed by the beauty of everything that we ended up doing about 4 miles, out to Frozen Lake and then back down around Shadow Lake.  Unfortunately, we went completely unprepared - bug spray, sun screen, water, etc all left in the vehicle!  Lucky it was early and not too hot yet.

Here are the gorgeous views from the viewpoint we were going to go back to.

The wildflowers may have been past their prime, but they were still really beautiful.  Lupine, paintbrush, old man of the mountain, heather. 

We didn't see deer or marmots, but we saw some smaller wildlife.  There were butterflies, chipmunks, ground squirrels and a Clark's nutcracker.

I liked seeing the moon between these dead tree limbs, and this cool rock formation.

The Mountain was glorious!  When we left that morning the skies were completely socked in at our house and I was worried that I would not see it.

Frozen Lake is a small lake up above the visitor center that is their water source, so it is all fenced off.  I'm not sure if it is their sole water source or if it is just supplementary.

Shadow Lake was a larger prettier lake, but didn't seem to have the potential for mountain reflection.  We enjoyed the pretty lupine around it.

After we rehydrated our sunburnt selves, we ended up heading out of the park and had our lunch along the banks of the White River.  It was a great day out!