Mount Rainier National Park

The ongoing comparison...
The Nisqually River Valley from "the bridge."
November 2002 September 2001 October 2000  
 
May 2002   March 2000  
 

 

Mt. Rainier (Camping at Ohanapekosh)

September 8-9, 2001

Wow! Long time, no see! I can hardly believe it's been more than 6 months since I've been down to Mt. Rainier... oh, no, just three... I did Eagle Peak in June. Still... prime hiking season and this trip wasn't even for a hike! That's okay, this trip was for camping... almost as good as hiking.

My friend, and co-worker, Vickie and her two daughters, Camille and Mercedes, joined me and my two for a little camping trip. Initially, I was thinking of Sunshine Point or Cougar Rock, but ended up heading to White River to avoid traffic. The White River Campground was full when we arrived, so we headed down to Ohanapekosh on the recommendation of the guy selling firewood.

We arrived at the Ohanapekosh campground just as it was getting dark. I started with a fire and Vickie started with her tent. She ran into a little snag... she had loaned her tent to someone several months ago and hadn't checked it out when it was returned. Well, she had two complete tents, neither of which were hers! Everything finally worked out though, we got one of the tents put up and all taken care of.

The fire was another story. It seemed that every time we had it going, it just died again. I'm not sure what the problem was/is. It was dark, we had dinner (spaghetti and garlic bread) and soon (it seemed soon) the girls all went to bed. Vickie and I stayed up for a while, sharing a bottle of wine and talking the night/morning away. There were two guys in the adjacent campground-a grandpa and a teen(?) grandson. They gave us some "medium-sized" wood to help with our fire. We used that, along with a good dose of poking and ding-ding-ding! we had a roaring fire. That night we learned the secret of a good, manly fire. :) Anyway... it was nice.

We all woke up, had breakfast, the girls played. We had lunch, cleaned up and headed out. We continued through the park towards Paradise. We stopped at a couple of places, including Box Canyon and Reflection Lakes (pictured here). We stopped for a long stop at the Visitor Center at Paradise and the girls played some more. When the crying/screaming started, it was time to go home. Within 5 minutes, both the girls were asleep.

 

Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens from the air

February 27, 2001

With all my recent travel, I've had yet another chance for some great aerial photos...

The tippy-top of Mt. Rainier. Like it? Mt. Adams in the front, Mt. St. Helens in the back-right.

 

Mt. Rainier from the air

January 11, 2001

It's not everyday you get a clear up-close shot of Mt. Rainier from the air... so here is one. This picture was taken flying out of Sea-Tac on my way to Columbus, OH, via Dallas, TX.

Burroughs Mountain/Sunrise

October 8, 2000

Little did I think at the time that this would be my last hike of the year. The weather was gorgeous and this was the last weekend of the year that the road to Sunrise would be open. So... we had to go!
Sunrise on Mt. Rainier Mt. Rainier from Burroughs Mtn.
The Drive-In, looking North Opposite Mt. Rainier from Burroughs Mtn.
The hike went so nicely and the weather was so friendly, that we seized the opportunity to take the scenic route home by driving all the way around the park.

We came upon Fall Creek Falls just inside the Stevens Canyon entrance to the park. It was right along the road, and I had to get a little closer even...
Continuing on, we visited the Box Canyon, the Paradise Visitor Center (no snow there), and continued on around. There were quite a few people in the park, so we really didn't stay any one place for too long.

We did stop, however, at Narada Falls to finally see the falls. Last time I was here there was too much snow to see the falls. The parking lot is in the top left in this picture, if you look carefully, you can see the wall. When I was here before, there was at least 5 feet of snow on TOP of the wall. That's where I climbed. No wonder I couldn't see the falls. It's a good thing I didn't fall... it would've been a really long way down.

 

Eagle Peak

June 16, 2001

We read a trail report of snow-free, so we had to come! The mountain was calling our name.

I don't have too much to say about this hike right now except that this is one of the best maintained trails I have ever hiked.

There were still clouds EVERYWHERE when we got to the top, so our best views were of the gray jays who wanted our food.

Someday, we'll come back again... when the weather is clear... or not.

 

January 21, 2001

As the second hike of the year, this one wasn't toooo too bad. I was tired and the weather was just not good enough that it wasn't a real pleasureable day to be out.

Nonetheless, this was Eagle Peak... the one that we never quite got around to last year. We would see how far we could get today and, since we wouldn't be able to see anything today anyway, we'll come back later on this year when the weather is being a bit more coopertive.

We only saw one other person on the trail, a guy by himself. We stopped briefly and got a trail status from him. It was good to hear, and he knew the trail well and knew when and where to stop.

The picture here shows where we stopped... the trail goes straight across this huge gulley... you DON'T cross this spot in the winter... instead, the "winter route" takes a sharp left and heads straight UP the mountain side... and YES! it's really as steep as it looks. Today, Paul and I decided to stop here. The additional 300 ft we could go up this 60 degree slope did not seem worth the effort, given the clouds and snow. Maybe next time.

The way down wasn't too bad, at least that's how I remember it. I do seem to remember that it did seem like a lot longer on the way down... but it was really the same distance -- I'm sure of it.

The nicest part of this trip was stopping at the lodge in Longmire and going into the restaurant for a cup of coffee, warm tomato-basil soup, and onion rings. I like that place. :)

Kay... I think that's all for now... hopefully I'll be back out again soon.

 

Mount Fremont Lookout/Sunrise

June 26, 2005

Finally starting to get back into hiking again, and thought I would bring everyone here for a good refresher. Even though I didn't expect to see anything, we got a nice little treat.

Might have headed up Burroughs if the sign hadn't said "Ice Ace Highly Recommended."  ;)

And can you see the clouds coming in?
Didn't get much past the lake before the clouds caught up with us. There was pretty much no visibility from then on, including the entire way back.

Made me thankful for the views we got on the way in.
The highlight of the trip was watching a little squirrel eat up all the phlox in a little patch. Amazing there were any flowers to be seen!

Oh so cute.

 

September 21, 2002

Two years, one day, one president later, things at work are more of a mess than they were exactly two years ago.

Today was an absolutely spectacular day in Mt. Rainier National Park. What more can one ask for?

Mt. Rainier with Burroughs in the foreground. The trail to the lookout on the right, downtown Seattle far off in the distance in the center left.

 

September 20, 2000

Hiking on a Wednesday?? I will forever remember this hike because it was the day before McGraw-Hill came in and fired our senior management and started their integration.

On this day, Tom (another manager in the department) and I took advantage of the opportunity to escape for a mid-week hike. This was the first hike Tom and I had ever done and it went well.

 

Mount Rainier/Comet Falls

November 2, 2002

Fitting that the next time I came to Mt. Rainier, it was once again with the girls  :)

It was scary how much snow there wasn't. Good for hiking though.

First, we did the obligatory sight-seeing of the normal attractions:

 

 View of Mt. Rainier from Paradise Visitor Center
Narada Falls Christine Falls

After that was done, we headed off on our real reason for coming down this beautiful day: Comet Falls

There were a few nice waterfalls along the way...Then we finally arrived.  :)

 

 

Mount Rainier/Paradise

November 7, 2003

I could say so much about this sign... but I'll leave it to your imagination.

A couple of hints, though, the trail to paradise is:
  --past the restrooms?
  --covered with snow?
  --washed out?

I can't believe the year's almost over, and this is the first pilgrimage I've managed to Paradise! What's up with me??

Anyway... my plan today was to head up Eagle Peak. The weather was supposed to be nice... but it didn't really turn out that way. Leaving the house at 7am, I could see the bank of clouds slowly moving in from the south.  :(  That's okay... maybe they would stay high enough to not cloud my view. In the end, it didn't really matter.

I hit the parking lot at 9am, only to find the bridge across the river at the trailhead was closed. The bridge was new... but there was no road on the other side. It had been washed out on the 5 inches of rain day we had a few weeks back.

No problem. I headed up to the visitor center at Paradise to talk with the ranger about what trails he/she might recommend. Wasn't too far up the mountain it started snowing.

Stopped at Narada Falls for some pics.

 

Reached Paradise to see an EMPTY parking lot. Is that possible?? So the visitor center is only open Sat/Sun... and it was Friday.  :(

Headed back down, stopped at the trailhead for Carter Falls. Sat in the car for awhile... stole a few zzzz's... then headed out to find the trail. Well. It's not a trail I've done before, so I'm not really sure where it was supposed to go, but the trailhead is right along the river... and... well... so I had fun walking around the river bed.
After that...
a quick stop at Christine Falls.
Next stop... Comet Falls.

I know that trail... it wouldn't be too bad...
might get closer to the falls than before.

Uh. No.  :(
Next stop? Last ditch effort?

Kautz Creek Trail. What do you think?

Jeez, wash out. Bleah.
Last curiosity stop?

Sunshine Point Campground.

I'd heard that the river took out quite a bit of the campground, and almost took out the restrooms. Wouldn't that be a mess? Wow. Close.

Closing thought: I love our native volcanoes.

 

 

May 12, 2002

Mother's Day 2002. What did we do? Go to my favorite mountain of course!

I was a bit surprised at how much snow was still at Paradise... a good 15 feet at the parking lot.

 

March 26, 2000

Geez... I haven't been to Mt. Rainier for more than 10 years... last time I was there I got a speeding ticket... the only speeding ticket I've ever gotten... 55 in a 20. That sucked. Oh well. This time was much nicer (no tickets).

For years they're going to be asking... "So, where were you when the Kingdome was imploded?" My answer? Looking at Alder Dam on my way to Rainier. Didn't hear a thing. Yay!!

This trip was going to be down to St. Helens, but it just didn't turn out that way. It was a REALLY gorgeous day and a perfect one to revisit Mt. Rainier.

In the picture above, you can see the Nisqually Glacier on the right. AND if you look very closely at the bottom of the glacier, you can see a bridge (it looks more like a long straight shadow).
Although this photo was taken on the way home, it was a nice place to stop and view the mountain I had just been so close to. They created this little roadside viewpoint because "sudden stops by tourists were becoming a hazard at this location as motorists pulled to the shoulder to enjoy the spectacular view of majestic Mount Rainier." <<a quote from another sign at this viewpoint on State Route 161.

You enter the Mt. Rainier National Park driving through lush old growth forest. You oooh and aaah at the little glimpses you get of the towering mountains above. Then you come out of the forest, go around a bend, and POOF! here's this mountain. I think I almost drove off the road. It was one of those "take your breath away" kind of moments. The mountain was like a ghost, so big and white and just right there.
This is the view from the bridge that you could see in the bottom right of the big picture of Rainier above (the first one in this entry). I drove over the bridge first and the view was sooo awesome that I went up the road a little ways and turned around and went back to park in the parking lot by the bridge... I walked around a little... took lots of pictures... and moved on. It was barely 11 by the time we got to this point (because of all the stops) and there was sooo much farther to go.
Once you are able to tear yourself away from the Nisqually Glacier, you go a bit further (stopping often to look back at Nisqually) and come across Christine Falls. This falls is right off the road. The first picture here (left) shows the upper falls from the edge of the road. The second picture (middle) is a straight-down shot of the main falls. The bridge leaves the top part in shadows and exposes the lower portions. You can get better views of the falls from a little bit further up the road, but there was too much snow to wander down there. The third picture (right) is another little falls adjacent to Christine just flowin' away on the side of the road.
Yay! Mountains! Welcome to Paradise!  :)

Above you see the Tattoosh Mountain Range. Mount Rainier is just coool.

  

 

Mount Rainier/Sunrise

July 20, 2003

Yet another daytime excursion... it was really hot here today... almost uncomfortable hot even in shorts and a t-shirt. Compare this picture to the one below... there's a lot less snow up there. Gunna be a long summer.  :)

We took advantage, though too, of the trip and scoped the White River Campground for good spots... we'll be back.

 

July 23, 2000

 

My dad has spoke often of this side of Mt. Rainier and I had never been... so we went... The idea was to enter the Park through this gate and drive all the way through the park and come out on the other side and skip over to Bonnie's. Well... needless to say probably, time flew by and it was all we could do to go to Sunrise and back out of the park and over to Olympia.

 

<<<<< This is Skookum Falls, on the other side of the White River.

On the way into the park, the weather was very overcast, I was worried we wouldn't be able to see anything... at least I had my waterfall...

It was amazing, just as we came up to Sunrise, we got above the clouds and could see the mtns above the cotton-candy clouds.

Looking down from the road, this is Sunrise Lake.

Once you have gained the altitude (Sunrise is above 6000'), you go around a couple of peaks. This area has TONS of trails... must.. come... back...

 

Mowich Lake/Spray Falls

September 23, 2000

This was more of an adventure than I had intended, but everything worked out in the end.

To start things off, I took a 1-hour scenic route detour by taking the wrong 18-mile forest service road. By the time we finally got to Mowich Lake, we were all a bit relieved. Stacia brought her sketch pad to do some drawings of the beautiful scenery.

The hike was also a bit longer than I had expected. It is a 2.3-mile each way hike through forest. The walk was peaceful and the girls did a great job of keeping up.

I think this was the only viewpoint along the entire trail! There were grey jays here, too, the girls got a kick out of them.
Spray Falls was absolutely gorgeous. It is huge: 60 feet wide and drops 300 feet.

We played on the rocks for a bit, and then headed back. On the walk back, I got bit or stung by something really mean. We practically ran most of the way back, because I was having an allergic reaction and wanted to get back to the car sooner rather than later. Also, I didn't want any of us to get stung again!