Paradise in the clouds and Paradise in the sun

Hello Hello!

I had a spectacular weekend camping at Mt Rainier this weekend! Gina & I left Friday morning and it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to our campground in Mt Rainier National Park. Our site was right on the Ohanapecosh River which was beautiful. The river is fed by snow melt from the mountain not glaciers so the water was stunningly clear and a beautiful emerald color. There were blueberry bushes around our site with ripe berries. yum! Gina and I set up our stuff and then went for a short hike. The hike passed through a thermal area where warm water bubbled up from the ground. We then followed the river back to Silver Falls. The waterfall was gushing and the river was in a steep gorge. We hiked back to the site and took a nap for a bit. When we woke up we started a fire and then the boys showed up. Ben brought his roommate, Brian, with him as he had never been to a mountain before despite living in Portland for several years. We were all excited to get out of town for the weekend. I've been wanting to go to Mt Rainier ever since I moved here as I haven't been since I was 12 years old. I chose this weekend specifically as it was the weekend Ryan was getting married and I thought it would be a fine time to get out of town and go somewhere beautiful. Boy was I right as I was so blown away by the sights of the weekend that Ryan's marriage was just a passing thought. I wish him well and hope to someday find myself a mate who'll go play in the woods with me. I was so happy to be at Rainier with my friends.

After the guys showed up we threw dinner on the fire grate. We had bbq chicken, potatoes and asparagus. We drank beers and talked around the campfire before retreating to our tents for sleep.

Saturday we had a big breakfast of bacon, potatoes and eggs. We packed up sandwiches and snacks for lunch and got in the car. We drove up the part of the park called Paradise. It really is an incredible place on earth. When warring Native American tribes entered the area no fighting was allowed as the place was just too incredible for the petty fighting of men. We stopped at the Paradise Inn before heading up on the trail. We were disappointed because the mountain was totally obscured with clouds. The trails start up through immense meadows of wildflowers which were peaking in their blooms. It was unbelievably beautiful. The lupine and paintbrush were wet with rain and the trees with climbing through the mist above. It was amazing! We had wanted to hike the Skyline Trail which at this time was climbing up into a raincloud. I was not prepared for rain so Brian and I decided to walk down to where it was dry. We saw marmots crawling along the rocks. They are big and furry! We walked back down to the visitor center and walked around some of the exhibits for stopping to eat our lunch. Gina & Ben met up with us just slightly damp from the hike and we all ate together. We drove back to the campground just as bits of the mountain were starting to peak out of the clouds.

Back at camp some of us took a nap and read our books before starting our campfire for the night. We walked down to the bridge over the river to admire the crazy blue-green color of the deep pools. At our site we prepared dinner (steak burritos) and had some drinks around the fire. We played a fun game called "What if". We ate smores and toasted marshmallows. The moon and the stars were out so we were excited for a clear day on Sunday. We definitely got it.

Sunday I woke up to nothing but blue skies. I woke up and made coffee and started packing up our site. When everyone was up we had some oatmeal and finished packing up. We drove back to Paradise where the fields of flowers were now against a backdrop of mammoth Mt Rainier and blue blue sky! OMIGOD! Gorgeousness beyond belief! We hiked the Skyline Trail which starts off going very steeply up the mountain through meadows of wildflowers then above timberline to nothing but rocks and insane views. To one side would be Mt Rainier which is GIGANTIC. At over 14,000 feet high it is the tallest mountain in the lower 48. The trail puts you face to face with the massive Nisqually Glacier, a huge expanse of ice grinding away on the mountain. We could see huge waterfalls in the distance of snow and glacial melt off the mountain. To the other side we could see Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and the crater of Mt St Helens which has already lost all of it's snow. The view just went on forever. At the highest point of our hike we stopped to eat lunch on a rocky cliff. We then began hiking back down. We passed some snowfields and snowballs were thrown. We began entering the meadows of wildflowers again. There were so many flowers it was unbelievable. I'm still working on understanding what I saw this weekend. The air was perfumed with the sweet smell of the flowers. I took a zillion pictures. I breathed deep and felt so very lucky to be there. We returned back to Paradise Inn where we got ice cream cones and refilled our water. We got to the car and traded our hiking shoes for flip flops before driving back to Portland where we just knew it was hot. On the car ride back Gina & I marveled at what we'd seen and talked of going back again. It really was Paradise. It was hands down the most beautiful place I'd ever been. I'll never forget it.

Our ride home was sunny and warm. We saw a bald eagle flying above the freeway and then a blimp. When was the last time you saw a blimp??? So I'm back home and little sunburned but happy happy happy. Please let me know how you are and what you've been doing!

xooxo,
carolyn