Mt. Rainier, our backyard volcano

Hey guys,

Man it has been a while since my last post…sorry about that.  Life gets crazy sometimes, but I am back and posting now!

Anywho…

So the past few weeks have been pretty jam packed, with work, dog, and hubby-to-be, and we really needed a bit of time to relax.  So we decided to head out of the city and visit our resident backyard volcano, Mt. Rainier. For those that don’t know, Mt. Rainier tends to be the pride of the state, most often pictured in the background of our most recognized city, Seattle. But we have tons of these bad boys. Anyone ever hear of the Mount St Helen’s eruption in 1980?  Yep, that was here too.  Thank goodness I was too young to witness that one.  Whew..

But anyways, we have a whole string of volcanoes and various mountains strolling all the way from Canada down to California with the Cascade Mountain range.  The nearest of which is my main mountain retreat, Rainier.

What is the best thing about visiting the mountain? The scenery man.  This place is jam packed with trees, rocky crags, picturesque valleys, rivers, glaciers, and oh yeah…don’t forget the mountain. 

    

Before last weekend, it had been many years since I last visited the mountain, and my memories were only foggy ones from many years past.  You know how it is when you are the passenger.  You stare out the window, glassy eyed, not always paying attention. But this time, I really wanted to soak it in.  I am one of those people who feel most at home when sitting in the forest, surrounded by soaring evergreen trees, hearing birds twitter and the rivers babble by. It really grounds me, bringing me peace that I just don’t find in the city.  And man this national park really does just that.

Upon entrance, you roll through massive park gates made of thick logs, and the place gives you a feeling reminiscent of a certain prehistoric disaster movie. Huge pines immediately flank your vehicle, and you know you have entered a special place.  The first few miles of the park are dark, with every view being that of the forest floor and massive soaring pine and fir trees. It is that muted glow you get when settled deep into the undisturbed forest. 

As you wind higher and higher up the mountain side, you get a peep show of bulging rivers and mountain peaks, and I highly recommend stopping at all the over look spots.  Now admittedly there can be a lot of people up there.  It is one of our biggest tourist attractions, so there is the possibility of loads of cars in the picnic lots, but if you can come during a weekday, this won’t be such a hindrance.  There are always lots of places to wander away from the crowds too.  Just trot yourself down a walking path a few paces, and most of the people fall away and are drowned out by that sensational forest.

We packed a picnic, and I would recommend you do to.  There are places to stop and grab a bite to eat in the park, but they get pricey.  There are tons of picnic benches along the way up the mountain.  But trust me, you need to bring food.  There are so many paths and trails to walk/hike so having fuel and water really are a big help. I want to do a future post about hiking some of those trails, once my legs are up to the job.  Now back to the adventure.

Once you get towards the top, you have a couple of options.  One…Go to Paradise. Two…Go to Sunrise.  These are vista points that view the mountain.  To be honest, I will have to do a follow up post about Sunrise, as we didn’t make it there this trip, and I can’t rely on the foggy memories of five year old me to tell you how it is.  So we chose Paradise.  Keep this in mind, we went in June, Father’s day to be exact, and there was snow everywhere.  Let me repeat, we left the house, where it was 84 degrees, and found tons of snow on the top of the mountains.  Here you can see us looking crazy. 

 

There we were, playing in the snow in shorts and a t-shirt!  Definitely a weird experience, but we weren’t the only ones. It was 72 degrees on the mountain that day and everyone was playing like a kid, whether they were wearing flip flops or snow boots.

My hands down, favorite part of that trip was looking up at that big beautiful mountain.  Nothing like watching people disappear like little ants up the snowy slopes of the mountains to put into perspective just how small we are.  For me, that melts the stress of the week away, feeling the fresh bright sting of a chilly wind sweeping down the mountain. 

I think the best part of the whole park is that you don’t have to leave right away.  There are tons of campsites, so you can pitch a tent, or pull up your fifth wheel, build a bonfire and relax.  Unfortunately for us, we don’t have any of those things yet, so we had to settle for just a day trip. The cool thing is, even if you purchase just a day pass, the entrance is good for 7 days.  So if you are like us, you can go back the next weekend for free!

Our second trip had a bit of a different tone, as the mountains decided to be misty.  Even if this happens, I would say go anyway.  Just because you can’t see the big behmoth, you still get some spectacular views.  Watching the misty clouds cover and uncover peaks and forests is amazing, and a hush seems to settle over the landscape.

 

So long story short, go visit this mountain.  And I would buy a year pass if you live here. It really is a minimal price difference, and I believe you can bring up to 11 people with you, but be sure to check out their website to be sure (#notsponsored).

 

Until the next adventure!

 

Evergreenlady