Housekeeping: I am currently back home for the holidays, and will try and finish off the remaining blog posts (about 20) before the end of the year.
Oct. 19th, 2013
The weekend after I went back to Redmond, Max had some friends stop by. George and Michelle came from Colorado to explore Seattle, as well as catch up with Max.
On the weekend, we decided to head down to Mt. Rainier. The parks were finally open again, and it was just a few hours drive to get there.
We slept in late, and didn't get started until noon. We were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to see anything at the park. Up until the last 10 minutes before the gate, the entire area was covered in a dense fog. However, the path cleared and we had blue skies for our entire visit!
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| View just entering the park. |
I was so happy that the parks were back in service, and quite a few others were as well. It wasn't packed, but there were definitely a lot of people visiting.
We drove up to the top of the mountain first, checking out the trail to the peak. We didn't go too far because we were really not dressed for that type of weather.
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| George had toe shoes. Far too cold for me! |
There was a visitors center on top with circular markers for each of the tall mountains along the Cascade Range. I snapped a few shots of the places I visited so far. Maybe one day I can see all of them!
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| The Medicine Lake eruption formed Lava Beds National Monument. |
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| Crater Lake (Mount Mazama) was estimated at 12000 feet prior to the eruption the formed the lake. |
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| Mount Rainier: 14410 feet |
Deciding we wanted to keep all of our appendages, we made our way back down the mountain to a more suitable hike. We picked out a trail that went up the mountain, following a river and some waterfalls. This was a really peaceful area with beautiful views of the mountain as you climbed.
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| George decided he needed some exercise. Max dead-lifts. |
We checked the time and decided that unless we wanted to walk back by the light of cell phones, we best head back to the car.
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| Made it back to the car just as the sun was setting. |
This is another area that I wouldn't mind camping for a weekend and exploring all day.
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| Good Little Tourists :) |
Pictures of Mt. Rainier
