Mount Rainier

From Wikipedia – Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the most prominent peak in the Cascades and is covered by 26 named glaciers including Carbon Glacier and Emmons Glacier, the largest in the contiguous United States. The mountain is popular for climbing, and more than half of the park is covered by subalpine and alpine forests and meadows seasonally in bloom with wildflowers. Paradise on the south slope is the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured regularly. The Longmire visitor center is the start of the Wonderland Trail, which encircles the mountain.

• Established: 3/2/1899
• Annual Visitors: 1,518,491
• Size: 236,382 acres

Olympic Day 3 and Travel to Rainier April 17, 2021

We had time this morning, before we were to head toward Mount Rainier National Park, so we went back up to the Olympic Visitor Center to hike the Peabody Creek Trail. There is a Peabody Loop Trail that is about ½ mile and the Peabody Creek Trail, roughly 5.5 miles out and back, branches off of that trailhead.  We could only walk roughly 3/4 a mile in as there was a bridge out and the park closed the trail at that point. But the mossy trees, cold creek and fabulous rustic bridges made this wooded hike a wonderful way to start a day! See pics below.

The first Tacoma Narrows bridge was opened on July 1, 1940. It was quickly nicknamed Galloping Gertie because it would sway vertically in windy conditions. Before the engineers could figure out a fix, the bridge collapsed in 40 MPH winds just 4 months after it opened. Here is a video GALLOPING GERTIE TACOMA BRIDGE

Tubby: Tacoma Bridge Disaster’s Only Fatality

We decided to stay in Sumner, about an hour outside Seattle, WA. about an hour and a half from Rainier’s Longmire visitor center on the south side of the park. The northern visitor center is closed right now. There is a Candlewood Suites (IHG), in the Sumner area, which we really like. This one opened in August 2020. Candlewoods have a small kitchen (no oven) and we choose 2 queen beds. You can get a two-room suite where there is a queen or king in a separate room and a pullout couch in the living/kitchen space. There’s a desk space and a lounge chair, good sized closet, bathroom and best of all, dog friendly! We had enough points as Platinum IHG members to cover two nights and we purchased a third night. We had an evening to relax and make chocolate chip cookies! Gary shopped for us and Rangeley’s raw diet. I bagged 7 days of Rangeley’s food and placed it in the freezer. We ate lunch at a lovely local restaurant called the Windmill. We were seated at a table on the front porch, Rangeley included and enjoyed our meal.

April 18, 2021

We took today off to relax and Gary needed to get some work done.  He carries his laptop as he still has employees working back in AZ. We enjoyed waffles with real maple syrup topped with fresh strawberries. We planned our lunch with Gary’s geocaching and hiking buddy, and his wife, who we knew from Phoenix. Todd and Karin moved to Seattle some years ago and it was a joy to sit outside and catch up over pizza and salads, in the 79-degree sun, with the fully snow-covered Rainier as our back drop!

Mount Rainier National Park – April 19, 2021

Rangeley has now officially visited 33 national parks…all before his first birthday! He will be one-year old tomorrow! He’s visited over 30 states, stayed over 70 nights in hotels and travels like a pro! He lays right down in the back on the van as soon as we get moving. He always lets us know when he needs to go out and he sleeps well at night. We cover the hotel beds with sheets we travel with and I always clean up after his ridiculously messy routine when he eats : )

I started the day by using a Starbucks gift card I found. Woo hoo! close to $6 for picking up what I thought was trash on the ground : )

We drove the 1.5 hours to Mount Rainier National Park by way of the WA161 heading toward the southwest side of the park. The north entrance is closed due to snow.

We drove by the Hobo Inn, a lodging establishment solely made up of old renovated railcars, complete with the train’s old dining car as its restaurant. We didn’t stop in, but thought it was clever and fun.

First stop: Ashford, WA, about 5 miles short of the Mount Rainier National Park Nisqually entrance. The park’s website, pamphlets and signs say you are required to have tire chains in or on your car during the winter season (which ends May 1), or you could be subject to a $500 fine. So, we found out that the Whittaker Mountaineering store in Ashford rented chains for a little less than $20 per day. Wouldn’t you know, we were never asked if we had them the whole day in the park! But it was good to give the business to the locals and we thought it was smart not to gamble getting caught and being fined.

Our next destination was to stop at the small village of Longmire. The Longmire Museum, National Park Inn, and the general store are the only information centers open in the park right now. James Longmire opened a mineral spring there in the 1880’s as the gateway to Mount Rainier. I was able to get the postcards, lapel pin and our passport book stamped in the village. We drove up a dead-end road suggested by a ranger and took some lovely shots of the mountains, streams and the suspension bridge we drove over. As in a lot of the national parks, dogs are “paws on pavement” only. We take advantage of that rule a bit when there are snow banks to play in and on!

We then headed up the hill and came upon several waterfalls along the road. There were a couple of pull offs so we stopped and took some pictures. I love the sound, spray and wonder of where all that water comes from and where it’s going.

Continuing on, we weaved right and left through thick forest and alongside beautiful creeks, and rivers all while enjoying snowcapped mountains on our way to the farthest the park would let us drive to at 5,400 feet. This is the location of the Paradise Inn and Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, both of which are closed. The only thing open were restrooms. We are finding that this park is pretty closed more than others, due to COVID, plus it is off season. There’s 172 inches of snow up there, and it’s April 19th!

While at Paradise, we took pictures of what we think are McClure Rock, 7,400 feet and Anvil Rock, 9,584 feet which block the view of Mount Rainier (14,410ft) looming another 9,000 feet higher than we were. Since the road was closed moving any further and the park had signs posted re: no sliding or sledding due to COVID, we headed back down.

We stopped at Narada Falls which turned out to be a little hidden secret. At first glance the falls are difficult to see and the snowbanks in the parking lot made it seem we were seasonally trapped. But as we ventured up a road a bit on foot, Gary noticed a packed snowy trail leading to, what seemed to be, the base of the falls. I carefully made my way down the short path and there it was! The beautiful 168-foot foot waterfall with a rainbow at it’s base. The slippery, wet, downhill slope was so worth it. Enjoy the pics.

Our last stop was to have lunch on the patio at the quaint Copper Creek Restaurant just before returning to Ashford. We ordered a cup of seafood chowder to share, which we both really liked, and two burgers: the Paul Bunyan Burger and the Cheeseburger in Paradise, both cute Washington State references. There were three mountain guides at the table next to us. Ironically one of the young man’s uncles owns a B&B in Rangeley, Maine – our dog, Rangeley’s namesake! What you can find out by just striking up a conversation!

We took two Copper Top cinnamon rolls to go. Another local reference (Copper Creek) and topped with caramel (copper color). Before leaving, Gary took a picture of the front of the restaurant to send to our 33 year old son. Gary, Cooper and a couple of Gary’s friends were here about 10 years ago when they did a guide-led climb up Rainier.  Gary has climbed Rainier twice, but due to heavy snow and winds he has not touched the summit. Maybe the next time!

Our next exciting adventure: North Cascades National Park! Don’t miss that one…we are taking a ferry 3 hours up a lake to stay in a cabin!