SUNDAY & MONDAY, SEPT 14 & 15

SUNDAY & MONDAY,  SEPT 14 & 15: 

     Two absolutely beautiful days to explore Mt. Rainier National Park!  This is a gorgeous national park.  I’m not sure what  either of us were expecting, but what we got surely surpassed any expectations!  Staggering beauty, all the way through.

      On Sunday, our main goal was to get an overview of the Park by driving to Sunrise, the highest point that you can reach by vehicle in the Park.  It’s about 60 miles from the West Entrance, and the road going there traverses a large portion of the Park.  Because of stops we made along the way and the narrow, twisty, hair-pin curved road, it took us more than about 4 hours to reach Sunrise.  In this case, it was about both the journey and the destination.  Both were nothing short of spectacular.  The views of Mt. Rainier, the surrounding peaks of the Cascades, and the absolutely beautiful old growth forests of Douglas fir, Western cedar, and hemlock made for one of the most magnificent drives we’ve ever made. 

                                                       

      We found out that this gorgeous drive wasn’t by chance, or luck.  Mt. Rainier (our 5^th national park, established in 1899) was our first national park to have a “master plan” . . . an overall design of the Park that would showcase its beauty and character to its optimum.  So, for instance, the roads were designed by a landscape architect to both protect the integrity of the natural beauty and features of the Park, and also to give visitors the most stunning views possible.  The bridges, tunnels, and guard rails were all made of natural materials to blend in as much as possible.  So were the buildings.  In this way, Mt. Rainier pioneered the “rustic” style, which came to be the pattern for most of the big western national parks. 

     Of course, the centerpiece is Mt. Rainier herself.  At almost 14,500 feet, it’s by far the tallest peak in the Cascade range.  It’s an active volcano, but currently “at rest” between eruptive periods.  The last explosion was about 5,500 years ago, and washed down massive amounts of mud, debris, and rock all the way to Puget Sound.  Needless to say, it would be devastating  beyond description if another explosion occurred now, with the current population in the Puget Sound area.  Fortunately, scientists are now able to see signs that the volcano is coming to life again and will be able to give warnings.

    About 25 glaciers cap the mountain, and some are the largest in the lower 48.  We saw the familiar evidence of receding glaciers that we saw so much in Alaska – the braided rivers filled with glacial silt, the scoured valley walls, the rock-filled valleys, which are being transformed into verdant meadows. 

 

                                                         

Although we missed the spectacular display of wildflowers which cover the meadows here each summer, we got to see the season begin its transition to fall, with signs of foliage changing color and lots of vibrant red berries coming into their own. And fall can be the optimum time to visit the Park, as you’re much more likely to enjoy dry, sunny days . . . in the summer, clouds and mist are more the norm.  So, once again, we feel providentially led in the timing of our visit here.

 

 

     When we reached Sunrise in the late afternoon, at 6,400 feet, the views were phenomenal.  Not just close-up views of THE mountain,

                                                              

but of the other peaks surrounding us. 

                      

                                    

 

Took a very short loop trail which led to overlooks of Emmons Glacier, one of largest glaciers on Mt. Rainier, and its glacial river.

 

 

 

We’ve certainly seen grand, majestic mountains before, especially in Alaska, and we’ve seen lots of glaciers up close.  But neither of us can remember being so close to such a massive, tall peak . . .  so close that we could see different textures of the snow and ice, some of the crevaces, etc.  Truly awe-ful.  

 

         On Monday, we allowed a more leisurely pace along the road.  We stopped more frequently and lingered longer.  There were far fewer cars at each turnout and parking lot today than yesterday, evidence that a lot of the Park’s visitors live relatively nearby, coming only for the weekend or even just a day.  So it was easy and peaceful to walk the short trails to see the shimmering waterfalls,
                                                             
                                                                    Christine Falls:

                                                             Narada Falls:

                                                              The light prism in the falling water:

                                                     
  the mountain vistas, and the dense intense green all around.     
                                
                                                          

      

       We drove as far as Paradise today.  This is the most popular area of the Park, so named when an early settler saw the subalpine meadow and the mountain beyond, and exclaimed, “Oh, what a Paradise!”  We asked a young ranger at the Visitors Center here for a good moderate hike in the area.  Well, she must not have read the description in the Trail Guide, because the one she recommended was actually categorized as Strenuous. And it was!   Two miles steep going up, gaining 1,700 feet in altitude and 1 mile even steeper down.  Took us 4 ½ hours.  But it was totally worth it - the views were some of the grandest we’ve seen, absolutely exhilarating.  The afternoon light on the mountain was perfect.
                                                                       

 

And the last extravagance of summer – there were still some scattered wildflowers.  We can begin to imagine what it must look like when the meadows here are covered with them.  And the voluptuous fragrance of red cedar accompanying us most of the way!

             

     About half-way through, we rested at a lovely spot where a little glacier stream trickled through.  Bright green mosses and islands of bright wildflowers made this place a wonderful oasis of color amongst the glacial till and the stones and the rock and the ice.  

                                                               

                

      As we approached the high point of the trail, there was an area where there was snowfall left over from last year, soon to be dwarfed by much more!  This area, around Paradise, often receives more snowfall than anywhere else in the lower 48 – an average of 680 inches a year! The lodge is covered u to the 3^rd story windows!

   As we climbed even higher,
 
                                                        

 Bill spotted 2 mountain climbers on a glacier above and ahead of us.
                                                             

   

                                            To gain perspective, the guys were climbing on the glacier in the 

                                                   lower left  of Mt. Rainier:                                           

                                        

 I spotted what we think is a mountain grouse.

                                                

       We were both pretty wiped out by the time we reached the parking lot.  In fact, once we reached the paved last ¼ mile, I took off my hiking boots – that downhill slope was killing my toes.  We collapsed into the truck, guzzled down some cold drinks, and devoured the leftover sandwiches we’d had from the other night in Carlton.  But we had enough energy to appreciate John Muir’s sentiment about Paradise!