Trip to Seattle: Part 1: Mount Rainier National Park

(We are 3 ½ days into our trip and have already taken.. ahem.. about 400 pictures. While many of them will probably get deleted, I can’t possibly share all that I would like to here on this blog. Just a few for now that go best with the story, with more favorites to come later.)

ARRIVING :: We arrived Tuesday safe & sound in Seattle after a 4 hour morning flight from Chicago. I realized that this was my/our first ever domestic destination flight (not counting connecting flights for international trips). It was strangely easy to pack for (1) just Matt & I with no kids, and (2) going for just one week in our own country!

Matt’s uncle met us at our rental car location and took us out for lunch overlooking the Puget Sound at a little fish & chips joint. He then led us to their home outside the main city. He is a builder/craftsman and built the entire thing himself, including much of the interior woodworking. It is beautiful. They also have a bit of property with a couple of horses, a pond, and gardens. See that umbrella on the deck there? Under there is where I am sitting presently typing this post.

CAMPING :: We are vegging this afternoon after arriving back from our camping adventure in Mount Rainier National Park. We headed out there Wednesday morning and camped for two nights at White River Campground. Matt’s aunt & uncle had all the gear we needed so we didn’t have to haul it all from MI.

entrance to the park our campsite

The first day we set up camp and then drove up to Sunrise Point. I have no pictures of the drive because I was literally scared stiff as we drove right on the edge of a serious cliff with no guard rail. A park ranger said to us with no humor in her voice, “I don’t think they’ve ever lost anyone off the edge.” Thankfully, we did not make history and I did not lose my lunch. The views, however, were breathtaking. There is just no way to capture the entirety of what you are seeing with a camera.

Mt Rainier in the background

We were hoping to see loads of wildflowers, but because of the amount of snow the park got this past winter (and spring, and even into June) -- about 75 feet total! -- they were only just beginning and were not yet in their prime like they usually are this time of year. There were some, though. The temperature our first day up there only topped out in the upper-50’s, so we soon headed back down to camp, took a walk down to the White River, had dinner, built a fire, and did some reading.

HIKING - IGNORANCE IS BLISS :: The next day we were up at the crack of dawn and Matt wanted to get an early start on hiking the Glacier Basin trail, whose trailhead was just feet from our campsite. I figured it would be a nice little walk and it would take us a couple of hours. First, I failed to recognize that we would be going uphill most of the way. Also, we neglected to see (until the end) this little yellow sign posted under the main trail sign:

After a short walk on an easy trail, we started having to wind up and around and through piles of rock and rubble with streams running through here and there. We were like, wow, this is an interesting trail. After a while we stopped to talk to a fellow hiker who said there had been a flood in 2006 that washed away over a mile of the original trail. Turns out what Matt had read to be a “moderate” level hike in one brochure was (more accurately) categorized as a “strenuous” trail in another. I was sure glad I had on my best “strenuous” hiking apparel. (ha, ha) :)

The last half mile or so of the trail was pretty seriously uphill and I was exhausted. We were also hitting patches of snow at this point. Good thing the views from Glacier Basin made it all worthwhile. I would have needed a 360 degree camera lens to take it all in. We had hiked 3.1 miles and gained 1700 feet in elevation. We were so proud of ourselves! At Glacier Basin there was a wilderness camp (where the serious backpackers camp) complete with tall metal poles to hang your stuff on so the bears can’t get to it. There were also guys gearing up to hike a bit farther up with downhill skis strapped to their backs.

a couple different views from Glacier Basin

We would have stayed up there longer, but the mosquitoes were biting with a vengeance, so we headed back down. It was much easier on the downhill, I must say! All in all we were gone for about 7 hours -- 5 ½ hours of which were hiking. I don’t think I have ever said “wow” so many times in one day… the last of which was probably, “Wow, am I going to be sore tomorrow!”

And yes, we even saw a bear! God knew that Matt really wanted to see one, and that I needed to be IN our car on our way OUT of the campground when he crossed our path! :)