Mighty Mount Rainier

By the time we arrived at Mount Rainier National Park last week on the heels of so many other national parks, I must admit I was suffering from a bit of National Park Fatigue. Although we had taken a brief hiatus from parks for the Dave Matthews concert at the gorge, it still felt like we had just come from Crater Lake and Lava Beds National Monument and I was feeling a little national parked out. Still, I was looking forward to seeing Rainier as it was one of the parks that we had applied to last winter for a volunteer gig this summer. We had gotten a positive response, but were not ultimately offered positions due to volunteer funding limitations resulting from the sequester the previous year.

None the less, I was curious to see the housing where we would have lived and the park where we would have worked and of course history told me that once I got into a National Park, the magic would take hold like it always did. So I dredged up some enthusiasm and sat up straighter as we approached the park on quiet winding road in the early afternoon.  It didn't help that it was also raining and, for the first time in many weeks, it was actually cold, but we got out at our first pullover in the park and did a short hike in an old growth forest that was actually quite enchanting.

By the time we stopped in at the first visitor center located in the historic Longmire area of the park, it was fully raining, so we grabbed our jackets and spent some time learning about the history and geography of the park. Next up was a stop at a pretty amazing waterfall and our first up close look at the strange colored water that flows from Glaciers. The milky sheen of the water is the result of what is called "glacial flour" and in places where there is little other sediment, the water pools a milky blue color.

We arrived at the campground for an early night and after a great dinner (cooked by Andre of course), we spent some time reading the park materials and making plans for the next day in hopeful anticipation of better weather. It was still raining lightly when we headed out in the morning toward the "Paradise" section of the park but the forecast called for it to clear up in the afternoon so we spent time looking through the visitor center exhibits and had a leisurely picnic lunch in the van, then decided to take a hike up through the high meadows to see if we could get our first look at a real glacier.

We had been surprised to learn that Mt. Rainier has one of the largest concentrations of glaciers in the lower 48 states and we were anxious to actually see one of the glaciers up close. We were still pretty socked-in with clouds and rain by this point, so we prepared ourselves to be disappointed.  In fact, we had been in the park for almost 24 hours and had yet to see the actual mountain itself, despite the fact that it was over 14,000 feet tall! Still, we were game for the hike anyway and that's when the magic really began. 

Deer in the flower-filled high meadow

The mist and then the rain rolls back in

One of the many Marmots in the high meadow

 

The glaciers start to reveal themselves

  

 

 

At this point it started to pour, but we no longer cared. The magic enticed us further and further down the trail as we got close enough to the glaciers to touch, taste and smell them, including a small part of the trail where we actually walked out onto a glacier to cross the trail.  It was a bit nerve-wracking as there was an intimidating drop-off to the right of the path, but Andre convinced me I could do it, and I did.

 

See - I'm not making this stuff up!!

The edge of the glacier, where ice turns to river

After an amazing 4 miles or so of damp, icy, wonders interspersed with high meadow flowers and grasses, we turned the corner on the weather and the ice for the last mile of the loop hike and enjoyed watching an entertaining bunch of Marmots whistling and munching on flowers around the many rivers and small waterfalls that gurgled over rocks and hills throughout the meadow.

By 4:30, we were back at the van and ready to drive the remaining hour and a half to get to our camping spot at the other side of the park.  We arrived at the "Sunrise" area of Mount Rainier, noted to be one of the most beautiful and decided to fore-go the planned campground and go directly up to the "Sunrise" visitor center and viewing area and just camp in the parking lot.  It was there, at about 6pm, that we finally got our first full look at Mount Rainier!

But it was the view in the morning, just as the sun was reflecting off the snow-covered mountain that really sealed the deal. Rainier was truly amazing..

Our home for the night in the Sunrise parking lot

Mount Rainier behind the Park Administration Building

In the morning, we took a beautiful hike up in the high meadow with great views of the mountain and even saw (we think) a couple of mountain goats on the high ridge across a meadow.  Here are some additional photos from Rainier.