Mt. Rainier
One of the coolest things about Seattle - especially if you are from Florida - is that you can see mountains in almost every direction: to east, the Cascades; to the west, the Olympics, and to the south, far off in the distance, the mighty Mount Rainier. (I asked around, and it seems most people pronounce it "Ruh-NEER".)
We can see Mt. Rainier through our living room window, looming behind the distinctive arches of Lumen Field and T-Mobile park (the football and baseball stadiums). It's far away, and it's usually hazy, which adds an aura of mystery.
Tidbit: On clear days, people here say, "The mountain is out."
Last weekend, after completing 12 weeks on the road and 3 weeks in Seattle, we drove 2.5 hours to Mt. Rainier National Park. A short delay in the car line at the park entrance just built the suspense. We drove into the park on the curving road, and there was Mt. Rainier, in all its 14,411 feet of majesty!
Summer is very short here, and July is a very popular time to visit. Through persistence and luck, I had been able to reserve a room at the historic Paradise Inn, whose steeply sloped roof was a reminder that AVERAGE annual snowfall here is 640 inches!
We parked near the inn and hit the hiking trails - Nisqually Vista, Dead Horse Creek, Glacier Vista, Skyline. The alpine meadows were carpeted with wildflowers - avalanche lilies, paintbrush, lupines, bear grass, and many more. The sun was warm, and there were cool breezes from the glaciers above us. It's no wonder early visitors named this place Paradise!
Some sections of the trail were still covered with snow, and we watched laughing hikers glissade - slide on their butts - down a snowy slope. The trail brought us so close to Mt. Rainier that with our binoculars, we could see the blue edges of the glaciers, a long line of hikers on a large snow field, and the camp near the summit. We even heard the rumble of an avalanche and saw a big chunk of glacier fall, with a big spray of ice and snow!
We were delighted to see a graceful mule deer and a chubby marmot, neither of which seemed to mind our presence. And back at the inn, a young stag relaxed in the shade just outside our window.
After dinner at the inn, we took a short walk to see a magical sunset.
The next day, we hiked to Snow Lake. It was a challenging hike, with steep slopes and narrow log bridges - but seeing the mountains mirrored in the bright blue lake was a great reward for all the hard work.
Before leaving the park, we did one last hike in the Grove of the Patriarchs, and marveled at the 1,000 year old trees.
Back at our apartment in Seattle, when we look out our window at Mt. Rainier in the distance, it feels different. We've been to Paradise, we've seen the mighty mountain up close, and now we know some of its secrets.
Wherever we go, we will always try to make time for hiking when the mountain is out!
