Thursday, July 31, 2014

Mt. Rainier National Park

(Puyallup, WA) Hi 84 Lo 56 – We must really be living right because we’ve had the most spectacular weather since we’ve been in Oregon and here in Washington. It was another bright, sunny day. The locals say many families come to Seattle on vacation and never once see the peak of Mt. Rainier. And here we’ve seen it every day so far. Today we wanted to get a closer look at the mighty mountain, so we drive a little over an hour to Mt. Rainier National Park.

Mt Rainier NP (1) (1024x575)

When we first entered the park we were a little disappointed because the road was narrow and twisting through dense forest. But after a few miles we finally reached more open terrain, and the giant mountain came into view. (Click on the photos to enlarge them. If you don’t, you’re really missing out.)

Mt Rainier NP (6) (1024x575)

The view of the surrounding area wasn’t bad either.
Mt Rainier NP (13) (1024x575)

Mt Rainier NP (14) (1024x575)

Mt Rainier NP (16) (1024x575)

Mt Rainier NP (8) (1024x575)

We stopped at a very pretty waterfall on the way to the visitors center. The parking area was at the top of the falls. We stood on a bridge and looked straight down to the bottom. Look closely near the top of the photo below and you can see a viewing platform down below.

Mt Rainier NP (12) (1024x575)

We walked down a short but steep path to that viewing platform…
Mt Rainier NP (11) (1024x575)

… where we got this great view of the falls. Isn’t the rainbow pretty?
Mt Rainier NP (9) (575x1024)

Here’s a close up of the top, where you can see the bridge where we started out.
Mt Rainier NP (10) (1024x575)

We finally reached the visitors center, which is the closest you can get to the mountain without hiking.
20140731_132545 (1024x576)

It was strange, but it looked smaller from the visitors center than it did from long distance. I think it’s because we were viewing it from a higher elevation, so the prominence was reduced.
20140731_133623 (1024x576)

But it was still an awesome sight!
Mt Rainier NP (5) (1024x575)

We could never show it in a photograph, at least with our camera, but with our binoculars we could see about a dozen climbers making their way up the snowfield at the right of the photo above.

Here’s a close up of one of the more than 30 glaciers on the mountain.
Mt Rainier NP (15) (1024x575)

After we browsed around the visitors center, saw the video in the theater, and walked through the gift shop, we drove another few miles to the Reflection Lakes viewing area. This was by far the coolest view.
Mt Rainier NP (2) (1024x576)

Here’s a panorama I took with my smart phone. That’s Dee on the left end of the photo.
20140731_150714 (1024x212)

Just gorgeous! (And the mountain is very pretty too.) Smile

It was a long but wonderful day. The people here in the Seattle area are so lucky to get to look at Mt. Rainier on a daily basis. And we’re so lucky to have been here when the weather conditions were so perfect.

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Bill and Nancy said...

Just Gorgeous is right!! Lucky, lucky you to get to see all that beauty:o)) Your photo of Reflection Lake is wonderful!!

Tom and Marci said...

Great pictures! I felt the same when we got to the top -- it seemed so much smaller than I expected!!

roamingwhenwecan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
roamingwhenwecan said...

For the very short time we lived in that area, that was my favorite thing to do. Walk out and view that spectacular site!

Dizzy-Dick said...

Great pictures and in the last one you still away some of the mountains glory. . .

Gypsy said...

You certainly are lucky to have such good weather for viewing Mt. Ranier. I just have to get to that part of the northwest one of these days!

Bob and Jo said...

Gorgeous weather and photos.

St. Patrick's Day - Council Meeting - Concert

 Shalimar, FL   (Hi  63  Lo 47)    I'VE BEEN ASKED THAT THE FONT IT TOO SMALL. JUST DO A CONTROL +  AND IT WILL ENLARGE. CONTROL   -(min...