Chapter 12: Take Two
After rearranging our vacation plans, we were down to our last full day of the trip. And instead of touring Vancouver, we left Puyallup and headed once more towards
Mount Rainier National Park. The skies were clear and sunny, so that had us feeling optimistic as we left the hotel.
We re-traced our steps from 3 days earlier and entered the park, still trying to beat crowds up to the Paradise Visitor Center. We did make a stop along the way to see Christine Falls, which was a nice little waterfall running under the road.
We made it all the way up the hill to Paradise, and promptly drove right past it. We went just a bit further down the road back to Reflection Lake, where we had captured this lovely photo 3 days earlier:
We took this photo at the same parking lot. What a difference 3 days can make.
We tried to do some family shots as well.
Shot composition is critical in an environment like this. It’s critical if you want to frame the subject in just the right way to get that perfect shot.
Quality art achieved, we drove back to Paradise and easily secured a spot without having to worry about crowds. I can’t recall what time we were there, but we were well ahead of the visitor center opening hours once again. The parking lot was full by late morning and people were inventing all sorts of parking spaced down the road.
We hopped right out of the car and went for a hike. At the parking lot, which is the start of many of the hiking trails through the alpine meadows, Mount Rainier looms large in the background.
There were wildflowers everywhere we looked. Beautiful pops of color graced the fields. You can see why everyone flocks to the mountain during the summer months—it’s the best time of the year to be up there.
We hiked to the Nisqually Vista, from which we could see the Nisqually Glacier on the southern slope of Rainier, which melts to form the Nisqually River. By that point in the trip, we’d seen plenty of glaciers, so I can’t say that this particular view revealed anything new to us. But the mountain sure was impressive.
Mount Rainier is 14,410 feet in elevation (4,392 m) and is still considered an active volcano, even though it last erupted sometime between 1820 and 1854. You can still see steam escaping from vents on top of the mountain, a telltale sign of volcanic activity under the surface. Rainier is considered a dangerous volcano in that if it erupted, the large amounts of glacial ice on the slopes could cause huge mudslides that would engulf anything in their paths.
But everything seemed perfectly calm and peaceful while we were there. With the clear skies, meadows full of wildflowers, and gorgeous alpine backdrop, you might have been forgiven if you’d thought it looked like something out of The Sound of Music.
We finished our hike and ate the last of our PB&J supplies at a picnic bench by the visitor center. By the way, is that great vacation planning or what? With all lunch supplied used up on the last day, we didn’t have to worry about trying to pack some leftover food to take home or throw out perfectly good supplies. I wish it worked out that way every year.
We were glad we’d rearranged our plans to see Mount Rainier. It would have felt like a giant hole in our resume if we’d been all the way out to Washington and failed to see it.
As far as Vancouver goes, well, who knows if we’ll actually get there at all now? Fingers still crossed. But I have a feeling I may be canceling my cruise soon. If it’s not canceled for me.
Continued Next Post...
and would go anywhere he recommends!
Taco Bell, I'm sure.
