Rainier National Park

There has always been this magical aura around the topic of Mount Rainier, at least for me (S). How could there not be when its image is plastered on the walls of REI, looming it's beauty even from an enlarged photo over the frontline registers that I used to call my domain back in Pittsburgh, reminding us of the history REI and the Andersons had with that mountain.

Then you hear famous John Muir quotes like "Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest."

Or, you hear stories like Fay Fuller's (the first woman to summit Mount Rainier) and her refusal for assistance and "resolve to climb until exhausted".  It is all inspiring and reinforces the need to experience this powerful majesty for yourself.

The mountain dominates the skyline from miles away.  It appears to be supernaturally pasted onto the unnaturally blue sky (we seemed to have hit the lottery with the visibility, with only wisps of fluffy clouds floating around). Luckily, we managed to snag a campsite in this popular park at Cougar Rock, right by Paradise.  We went full tilt and set up the REI Kingdom and garage.  This will be our respite from the confines of living in the back of a car.  Fully setup, its like a 3 room apartment.  In Manhattan.  So tiny for typical living arrangements, but gigantic for camping.

We headed up to the Paradise visitor center, and what a drive... The park's roads were engineered in such a way that less than 6% of the natural wilderness would be changed yet it could be accessible and provide engaging and thrilling views at every turn.  Then you get to Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, the largest and fanciest visitor center we have seen so far, which is a wealth of exhibits, panoramic views from large windows, and knowledgeable advice from park rangers on what to do and when.  After we prepared ourselves with tips, maps, and postcards we made our way back to camp with a plan for the next few days.

The following morning was spent wandering the parks in search of a worthy hike.  We settled on comet falls, one of the tallest in the park.  It was a nice 5 mile round trip, and we spent some time playing with the camera settings, new filters, and getting the lens all misty.

I had enough of these silly dirt trails and decided that I wanted to hike in mashed potatoes.  Luckily the main loop from the lodge, Skyline, was still 80% snow covered and therefore less people were willing to attempt the trek.  We grabbed the ice axes and went off to get closer to the mountain.  It was slushy, steep at times, and the sounds of glaciers cracking was faintly in the air but we made it up to Panoramic Point.  From here you can see south to Adams, St. Helens, Hood, and beyond.  Or north to Rainier...

We had some glissading practice on the way back down, and Stacy (after some convincing) did great!
Spoiler Alert: I have some other GoPro shots from the following days glissade back down from Camp Muir, all of which are in the picture album. To end our 2nd full day, it was also recommended that we take some time to reflect, so we headed down to check out the Reflections Lake.

The following morning, much to the Stacys consternation, I decided to get up at 7am and solo hike up to Camp Muir, the highest spot on the mountain to be safely reached without permits and mountaineering equipment.  ~4.5mi with 4600' of gain, and then back down.  It was rough, I'll say that much.

Afterwards, since I left Stacy at camp all morning, she insisted that we hike even more. But, it was more relaxing in the Grove of the Patriarchs witnessing several thousand year old cedars, hemlocks, and firs guard this valley.  Very serene.

Oh yeah, and there was a roadside black bear having fresh arugula and goat cheese salad.  Cool.

All of this time in Rainier has been prior to the 'season' opening, meaning all of the campsites had been walk up.  It was now Friday afternoon on opening weekend and we had yet to find a campsite that was not reserved.  We decided to drive up to White River (walk up only) only to find out the campground does not open until Saturday. Great.  Back down in the rainy valley of Ohanapecosh, we managed to snag a 1 night site.  In the rain I sat and worked hard on this silly blog and photos, while Stacy played Grand Theft Auto on the PSP.  At least that's the way I remember it... Oh, and we made a friend named Kevin (more on him in a later post)...

Onto our final full day.  We went to White River early to get a site right at opening, and what a beautiful day it was up there.  I couldn't stand for the sunshine and forced us to march up the ridge to Frozen Lake in whiteout conditions.  Just kidding, it wasn't a forced march.  On the bright side, we are starting to get our high elevation hiking legs under us.

Back down in the sun of the valley, we dried out, cut each others hair, and watched a movie in the car.  Slumdog Millionaire was pretty good.  We're really roughing it out here, huh? I think that's it for Rainier, it has really been a pleasure being a spectator of this place and seeing why all the Native Americans and early mountain men like Muir considered this place sacred and in need of preservation and protection.

-K
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<3 S