Today, we did Rainier. And Rainier did not disappoint. Well, actually, Mt. Rainier him (or her) self kind of did by hiding behind clouds for most of the day. But the rest of the NP...WOW! Loved this place.
Upon John and Glenda's recommendation, we started with this Box Canyon Trail, not far into the park. It is very short, and takes you to a bridge over a huge canyon carved out by a glacier years and years ago. The bridge is about 150 feet up and you look down at the rushing river running through the bottom of the canyon. So cool. Along that hike, we took a quick detour and went up a bit on the Wonderland Trail. The Wonderland Trail is one that goes all the way around Mt. Rainier. It takes a week or two for most people to complete. We saw one woman hiking it and spoke to her briefly. She was on day 7. All alone, too. Will and I wondered if the amount of female hikers going solo has increased since the publication of Wild. I bet it has. We noticed that this girl had running shoes on, not hiking boots, which seemed a bit peculiar, as well.
After this hike, we continued further into the park, on our way to Paradise Visitor's Center. On the way, we pulled off the road several times for pictures of great waterfalls, lakes, etc. One lake is Reflection Lake, which was very pretty. It is the most photographed spot in the park, but usually when Rainier is making an appearance because you can see it in the reflection of the lake. Not today, at least not when we were there. Oh well.
We went in the visitors center briefly and then had lunch at the base of the mountain. Several times while we had lunch, the peak poked through the clouds, and I was able to get a few pictures. After lunch, we went up park of the Skyline Trail, which is 4.5 miles total, if you do the loop. We just went up as far as we wanted. Along the way, we saw a deer hop right over the path, as well as many marmots (not sure if that is the plural...) They are very cute and came pretty close to the trail so I got some great pics. The trail is all paved and even wheelchair accessible, but it is pretty steep at first. Will and Eleanor turned around at a certain point, but Ethan and I wanted to keep going. So we did. And it was awesome. We would see people up higher and think, well, we'll just go to there, and then we would get there...and decide to go to the next there.
We finally stopped at Glacier Vista, or something like that, where we viewed the Nisqually Glacier. We were literally in the clouds, 6350 feet in the air. We started around 5300, so we went up about a 1,000 feet. It was great. So many pretty pictures. The meadows are all in bloom (they bloom only for 4-6 weeks a year), and everything was just breathtaking.
When we made it down, we waited for Will and Eleanor in the visitor's center, where we said we would meet. They were not there, but I stayed put, assuming they would come back to look for us. About 20 minutes later, we saw them coming off another shorter trail to Myrtle Falls. It was a short one, about a mile total, and Will thought it was worth seeing, so Ethan and I trudged up to that one, too. And it was very cool - definitely worth the extra sore feet.
Since it was now after 6, we knew we definitely had to head home. We drove out a different way than we came, coming out a different entrance. John had told us we could do this and take a road through the Gifford Pinot National Forest back to Packwood. Well, we saw this small road (miraculously) and turned, not exactly sure if it was correct. I didn't have phone service, but my gps app did show where we were and that we were heading the right direction. It was about 20 miles on a curvy, narrow, and bumpy road, but we made it. I actually didn't think it was that bad. Maybe I'm just used to this now. We were "home" by 7:30 but hadn't even eaten. We had stopped at a restaurant right outside the park that Glenda said was a favorite. But there was a 25 minute wait. So...the kids had mac 'n cheese, and Will and I are having frozen chimichangas that were in our freezer and Glenda assures us are delicious.
We have decided to go back to Rainier tomorrow and then (possibly) go to St. Helen's on our way to Portland on Friday. The problem is it just takes so long to get to it. We are really torn because we are here, but we loved Mt. Rainier NP so much, we want to explore another day. Really wishing we had another day here. We could have easily spent a week here, actually. Live and learn.
That's all for now...chimichangas are ready!
4 comments:
I can't wait to see pictures! Sounds amazing. I hope you aren't TOO sore for day 2!!
Are there are keys at home for the van? We won't fit in the Honda and my car doesn't have air conditioning. It is going to be hot and rainy on Saturday. Otherwise we'll take 2 cars. Have fun on your last days.
Yes mom. My van keys shoukd be hanging up on the hook when you walk in back door. It is the biggest bunch of keys there. Will has a set, too, that is likely there.
Yes mom. My van keys shoukd be hanging up on the hook when you walk in back door. It is the biggest bunch of keys there. Will has a set, too, that is likely there.
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