Hot, Majestic Beauty!

But enough about Liz.

We arrived Wednesday at Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier is a beautiful little hill and a beautiful place. Many people say that it would still be a national park even if the mountain weren’t there. It is known for its cool, wet climate… except for now. We are here for a remarkable heat wave, with temps each day well into the 90s and over 100. We’re actually faring pretty well… it’s the locals (used to the cool, wet climate) who are having a really hard time. Of course, this heat wave has also crippled the electrical system in our campsite, meaning our big tin can bakes in the 100-degree sun all day but then doesn’t have A/C to cool off at night.

You would think that a heat wave like this would negatively affect the visual impact of the place, but the opposite it true… there is so much sudden snowmelt that the creeks, rivers, and waterfalls are running like we’ve never seen them before. The sky is clear blue, and in the morning you can see for miles.

Today we took a stroll around The Grove of the Patriarchs, an area filled with 1,000 year old, 200-foot-high cedar, fir, hemlock trees. The largest of them, cleverly referred to as The Big Cedar, is about 15 feet in diameter. Yesterday we strolled around Paradise, home to the most beautiful wildflowers anywhere, and then took a 4.5 mile hike on the Wonderland Trail (Mt. Rainier’s perimeter trail) down from Narada Falls. Mom, Dad and I did this hike in 2007, and it is one of our all-time favorites. In November 2006 there was a major flood… bigger than even a once-in-a-century event, this was a landscape-altering flood that did remarkable damage to the natural elements and destroyed the man-made infrastructure to the tune of $25 million. Nature will take years to heal herself… like the Nisqually River which went from being 10-15 feet wide to a flood surge sometimes 500 feet wide and 50 feet deep. See the pics for yourself at the bottom of the post… anywhere you see large boulders or a wide chute or swath (including Liz and Dad hiking across and looking at a gutter that goes all the way up the mountain), that’s the flood.

We love looking for and even on rare occasions seeing bears, but it’s nice to hike here and not have to worry about being something’s next meal. There is a small black bear population here, but that’s a far cry from our campground in Alaska which had “No Tents, No Soft Sided Trailers, No Being Out of Your Camper At Night Due to Regular Visits by Large Grizzlies and WOLVES” posted at the entrance.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to camp out here either… since the weather’s been so dry, a lot of people have come down from Seattle and all of the backcountry campsites within our skill/distance level are filled up.

Wednesday we also went Northwest Trek. This is a great zoo that only deals with animals native to this region, with an enormous, 500-acre preserve with the animals in their natural habitat (except for without the carnivores). You hop on a tram and go on an hour-long safari with moose, elk, bison, deer, trumpeter swans, and more. Pretty cool.

We spent Monday night and Tuesday back in civilization in the charming little hamlet of Seattle. We even ate at Outback Steakhouse! In the city we went to the great Seattle Aquarium, then had lunch at one of the outstanding pier seafood restaurants, and then took a stroll around Pike Place Market, Seattle’s great public market. Got some amazing cherries and other goodies, and got a bouquet of flowers for the RV… flowers are one of the most appealing things about the market… they are simply the most beautiful bouquets you’ll find anywhere, and almost all are priced at either $5 or $10. Most would easily go for $40-100 at your local florist.

Sunday we pack up and head (we hope!) to Crater Lake. We have had plans for Crater Lake twice before and twice have had some major mechanical catastrophe keep us from our destination. We think we have on-site access to both the Interwebs and the Googles, so maybe we’ll get a couple of good, regular posts up.

Happy Birthday to Grandma Gowman!!!