Back in July of 2013, yes, 3.5 years ago, Man and I were 8 months into our 10 month winter get away and tour of the US. Now, please read that date again, 2013.
I take lots of photos, too many. I have too many interests. Life gets active. And, blogging falls so far behind I cannot imagine I will ever catch up. I may not. But, I have all this I want to preserve for my grands, so, here we go again.
I take lots of photos, too many. I have too many interests. Life gets active. And, blogging falls so far behind I cannot imagine I will ever catch up. I may not. But, I have all this I want to preserve for my grands, so, here we go again.
For July 4th week, we had no reservations, no place to park. Man, after a hard search found a campground in Packwood Washington, in the shadow of Mount Rainier, to park for a week. There was no cell phone, no campground WiFi, I found myself basically disconnected. That said, it was gorgeous, we met some great people, and we had a wonderful time.
The first day there, we drove to Mount Rainier National Park on route 52, via Gifford Pinchot National Forest, stopped at Paradise Ranger Station and eventually found Stevens Canyon. Yea, how fun is that.
The first day there, we drove to Mount Rainier National Park on route 52, via Gifford Pinchot National Forest, stopped at Paradise Ranger Station and eventually found Stevens Canyon. Yea, how fun is that.
The day started out with a great bridge:
Did not take long before we started spying water falls, some tucked so deep in the mountain side they did not photograph well, but, I took photos anyway:
A nice first view of Mount Rainier:
We stopped frequently, and yes, I found flowers:
And, this was all BEFORE we even entered the park:
Another view, by the way, Mount Rainier tops off at 14,410 feet above sea level.
At one of the pull offs, we find people exploring the river bed of the Nisqually River:
Christine Falls gave us another chance to stretch our legs, the road crossed the water and the falls area.
This was very close by, but, I believe was another falls. OK, after 3.5 years, I cannot be sure. Sorry.
Rock slides. Mother Nature, she really never fails to astound, I can only image the forces, the sounds when this happened.
A small cloud, and the mountain goes higher yet:
A few more miles and we stop at Narada Falls:
Yes, that is a rainbow:
I went down the steep path to capture the falls from below. That fuzzy look to the left of this photo is mist created by the force of the falling water of the falls. I kept the camera under my jacket until the last moment, shot a few photos, and stuck it right back under my jacket.
On the hike out, I found some flowers, identified as yellow wood violets.
Another water fall, name not recorded, just along the roadside.
Later I put the zoom to work, capturing the snow pack:
Arriving at Paradise, elevation 5420, this creature was snooping around the parking lot:
Walking on the snow pack (possibly the remnants of a "glacier"), families enjoy doing so in their shorts! A glacier needs to be serious snow pack/ice that MOVES down the mountain. Not all snow pack is a glacier, even up here.
We had a bit of picnic lunch here and after visiting the Visitor's Center, looking around, and stretching our legs, once again, we climbed back in the truck and headed home. I have this many photos again to share with you soon about the second half of our day.
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