Comin' Round The Rainier Mountain

Having scooted up the pacific coast all the way, we figured we should at least pop into the Washington Cascades and see a bit of the mountains.

We leave Port Angeles and drive south along the Puget Sound to Tacoma where we find Highway 7 and head further south (through some pretty dicey city sections) and then back into more rural areas, heading towards Mount Rainier National Park.

Mount Rainier is Washington's highest mountain charting in at 4300 metres — the fifth highest in all of the U.S. Proudly sporting 26 glaciers, it's also a volcano like its sister Mount St Helens to the south. Unlike the tempestuous Ms Helen, it hasn't tossed its lava cookies since 1854. Maybe it's due? Not right now, please... On a clear day, you can see Rainier's icy tip from all over the western portion of the state. However, clear days are a rarity in these parts and today is no exception.

Just outside of the national park, we stop in the visitor centre (hut) in the small town of Ashford and inquire about lunch. It's getting late in the afternoon and we're both feeling a bit cranky. We're sent down the road another few miles to a couple of options, one being Alexander's Country Inn, who do up a tasty pasta and fish lunch. It's the fresh and homemade blackberry pie that wins us over and when we inquire about a room for the night, they provide the grand tour, showing off all their heritage B&B rooms.

So we stay. It's a pretty nice place, plus they throw in an all-you-can-eat breakfast. And of course, the promise of more pie!

In the morning, there are blips of sunlight and blue sky and hopes that Mount Rainier's peak will be visible. We stuff ourselves with breakfast and then head into the park.

Now, that's a first class national park entrance, don't you think?





Mount Rainier National Park is beautiful, sunlight or no sunlight. Glacial rivers, waterfalls, dense cedar forests, volcanic rock, pikas and deer.




Oh, and snow. LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW.





June 14th, early summer and about five miles into the park, we encounter so much snow that it seems impossible it will all melt before it starts falling all over again next winter.

We also get a few partial glimpses of the mountain as we drive up to the Paradise Visitor's Centre, one of the highest points you can access before you have to put on the crampons and hike up to the mountain hut at 10,000 feet. Have fun with that...





Yes, there's snow. This year the park had 900 inches of the white stuff! Skiing anyone? One guy we see puts on the boots and skis and swishes down the hill. No chair lift, so it's pretty much a one way trip....








Coming back down to reality, we stop and check out some of the less snowy trails. We're both a little under the weather, so we don't do much strenuous walking.

Hey, here comes the Mount Rainier summit through the clouds. Can you see it?





When it does reveal itself, it towers over everything.

Just a sneak peak. We're happy with that.