Mt. Rainier Weekend

On Friday afternoon we decided to go do a day hike on Saturday. By Friday night we decided we should try to camp and get a couple of day hikes crossed off our list. By Saturday mid-morning we were packed and ready to go. 

It was such a great weekend getaway (of sorts). Our first hike was an introductory walk in the woods to ease us back into the season. We did the Grove of the Patriarchs, just inside Mt. Rainier National Forest. It's pretty much flat and 1.5 miles round trip. I didn't even put on my hiking shoes. It was pretty though and although very popular and busy, it was the perfect little warm up for the weekend. 

This hike gave Emerson ample opportunity to use all of her adjectives for big.
This tree was 'huge'.

Testing Blake's patience Waiting in the slowest moving line ever.

It was recommended to go one person at a time, which some people took seriously and others did not...
I took the river crossing since I had sandals on. It was very refreshing. 

Love this. 

This tree was 'colossal!'

Thiiis big!

Her face here just cracked me up :)

Cooling our feet off and getting our sandals wet while daddy waits in the bridge line.

Crossing the bridge

After the Grove of the Patriarchs we drove up to the Paradise Visitor's Center and did the Alta Vista - Panorama Point hike. It was undeniably gorgeous. The expanses of wild flowers with the glacier crusted mountain peak as you tread up, up, up. It was also hot and this mostly paved but still pretty steep hike kicked my rear. We knew we wanted to go past Alta Vista (which provided gorgeous enough views) but weren't sure how far we'd make it and assumed we wouldn't go all the way to the end of the trail since we got a later start in the day.

It was really busy and we lost track of the different languages we heard as we hiked with people from all over the world. I had no idea Mt. Rainier was such a tourist spot! It was fun to see the variety of attire worn by people across the age span and it helped motivate me that if that grandma just did this in slacks, I could too. Hot, steep and exhausting, but utterly worth it once we got to a spot toward the top and sat down for a snack with one heck of a view. Emerson stayed in the pack the whole time and was ready to stretch her legs. She loved seeing the chipmunks, marmots and deer; and of course there were big and tiny rocks up there. 

From the parking lot

Getting closer. 

Flowers for days.

She loved hiking.. it's no wonder ;)

Near Alta Vista (I think)

After Alta Vista, headed toward Glacier Vista

The light was just so pretty!

Our first marmot sighting (first of many). Did you know they eat the flowers!?  Emerson thought that was pretty funny.

We made it!
This was where we called it, we could see Mt. Adams from here and this was a nice, safe spot to let her roam for a bit. 

After we had our snack and accidentally fed a chipmunk with a few dropped grapes, we headed back down, every step reminding us how old our knees are getting. Blake hates going down but down is so much easier for me!

We had heard that all the camping spots in the park were full and we weren't too surprised since it was a nice weekend. So we left the park and planned on stopping at several of the Forest Service camp grounds down Hwy 12 until we found one, thinking we could always park at a trail head we knew of and sleep in the car if needed. As luck would have it, we found that there were plenty of spots at the closest campground, La Wis Wis. 

We finally found an open spot that wasn't across from a crowded group spot and settled in for the night. I made dinner while Blake made a fire and got the tent set up. Emerson enjoyed being on the ground and sitting in her 'own little chair' that a friend of our cousins' gave her after our camping trip last Labor Day. 

The next morning. It was humid and her hair gets crazy like this in humidity. 

As we packed up she busied herself by washing these dishes over and over and over...

After a warm night 'sleeping' on top of our sleeping bags we woke up with our Emerson alarm clock and enjoyed a relaxed morning by the fire. We were packed and on the road by 10, off to cross the third hike off our list: Pinnacle Saddle. 

This sweet little trail is 3.5 miles roundtrip and gives you a generous elevation gain of 1150 ft It wasn't as hot this morning and although I had to take my time, as usual, I did make it to the top. A good portion of the trail is rocky and without shade, but it provided breathtaking views that made the trail as gorgeous as the finishing point. 

Once we got to the top, we could see Mt. Adams on one side and Mt. Rainier on the other. It was a little hazy, so Mt. Adams was a little hard to photograph. Blake (feeling lighter than air after taking the kid carrier pack off) jogged up one of the peaks nearby and said he could just see Mount St. Helens. He also said it got pretty steep and wasn't a good trail after that on either peak, so we didn't try to summit either peak (the saddle had a sign that said end of maintained trail, and they meant it. I also read later that the summit trails are really for experienced climbers, not pregnant women and men carrying toddlers). We had a quick snack, took some pictures and high-tailed it down from there. The views might have been breathtaking but the bugs were out in full force. Giant biting flies and tons of mosquitos. 

The only trail head photo we took. The other trails didn't really have 'This is where it begins' kind of signs.

The view from the trail, after it opens up and starts to get rocky. 

I was so impressed with the maintenance on this trail. This rock wall had to have
taken several volunteers a very long time!
(This was actually taken going back down)

Looking up the trail, it stretched on for a good distance.

The view from the top, looking out at Mt. Adams

Looking back through the saddle at Mt. Rainier

Trying to hold still while we get eaten by the bugs.

You can just see Mt. Adams to the left of the frame.

She was so cute standing there eating her snack by her chosen rock, I asked her to look
up and smile. She dropped her snack and ran over to where daddy was standing to say 'Cheese!'
Apparently, she remembered the drill after we first got up there. 

On the way down. I didn't want her to nap yet so I asked her if she was sleeping,
She didn't move and just said, "No night-night. Peek-a-boo"
Sure. the longest peek we've ever seen and no boo.

We got our feet wet in Reflection Lake, had a little lunch and filtered some water for the ride home. We thought it was a nice way to end to a great, albeit tiring, weekend. 

Unfortunately, on the way home we came up on an accident just after it happened. A young-ish man had driven his truck off the road (we assume he fell asleep, since there were no skid marks and no appearance of any attempts to slow down) and wrapped the front end around a tree. We saw dust and debris all over the road. I looked over the side to see if a rock slide had just happened and saw the truck. We stopped immediately but it was a really steep slope and we weren't sure if the truck would fall further if we leaned on it (which we'd have to if we went down there). We could hear the man but he wouldn't answer us (shock we assume) and we searched for signs of a second passenger that might have been thrown, Soon we saw him pushing himself out of the driver seat and trying to get through the back window. Just as we were thinking the truck was stable (since he had jostled it and it wasn't slipping), a group of bikers stopped and jumped into the truck to help him. We were pretty useless, me pregnant and Blake without anyone else to help him, so it was a relief with the bikers stopped and thankfully they sprang into action (also thankfully the truck was stable enough for them to get in it). No one had cell service so someone had to drive to the ranger station and we waited for what seemed like an eternity for the ranger to come and radio for help. The guy was hurt pretty badly and it was kind of a traumatic end to a great weekend. We left after that, knowing we weren't needed, and I think we appreciated our sweet family time just a little more after the reminder that life is pretty unpredictable. We haven't found a report on the accident, so no idea how the man is doing.