Camping @ Mt Rainier National Park

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There is a reason why Seattle-ites fall in love with their Mt Rainier. 25 out of 30 days in a month, it manages to hide behind a layer of clouds; and when the clouds drift away the snow capped wonderful scenery we behold, looming above the concrete highrises,just makes the day.
Mount Rainier is a dormant volcano which had last erupted about 150 years ago. That is a little scary fact , but no one can absolutely ignore the charm. Once a traveller has set his foot in the mountain's vicinity, the glaciers, the meadows and the constant sound of flowing springs will keep beckoning him back again and again.
We recently planned to go camping in the Mount Rainier National Park. First fact I had missed while planning the trip is that there is no phone connection in the park. The first point where we can use the phone is 20 miles away from the Ashford entrance.We had taken two cars, and were depending on walk-in campsites' availabilities. The second fact I had missed was that this park is a hugely popular, and if we need to walk-in to a campsite on a sunny Saturday, we better reach there very early around 7am, because when we reached at 1pm, there were no campsites available at Cougar or Ohanapecosh! However, due to absence of At&T network, we lost connection with our friends in the second car, and were waiting at Cougar Rock campsite for them. That is when luck looked up and the nice ranger informed us that somebody cancelled and a site has become available.We claimed the site, parked our car at the summer-weekend-shuttle stop at the campsite entrance with messages for our friends, and took the shuttle to the Paradise valley.There are pay phones near the campsite entrance which takes coins only. Since we did not have any cash or coins, we had to purchase a phone card from the Longmire store.

Paradise valley proved so true to its name. John Muir is noted to quote that this mountain top meadow is the most luxurious scenery for a traveler.This is the month of August, and there is snow on the meadows, but yellow, white and pink flowers have grown all over. We can see deer grazing the meadows, marmots playing in the rocks, and water falls flowing. The clouds come down very near to us. The snow capped top capped mountain top we can see from Seattle which is 2.5 hours away is so near and big to us now.This place can so aptly be called the Paradise on earth. After 4 hours of walking and enjoying the Myrtle Falls and Reflection Lakes, we came back to the campsite at almost sunset. We were so disappointed to find that our friends have not received our messages, because we did not find them or any traces at the site. But, since we had already paid for the site, two of us decided to stay the night. Another phase of inconvnience ensued for that decission. We had to buy wood, and lady selling wood will not accept credit card, and there is no ATM machine within 20 miles of the park. So we put up the tent, and drove out of the park, beyond the Rainier park campbase, to Elbe to fill up the tank, take cash and leave some more voice messages for our friends. We went back to the camp, started fire and i was still hoping that our friends will get the message and join us, when a car's headlight suddenly blinded us ! After a very zealous reunion, we had roasted chicken, vegetables and smores, and after a game of uno, we went inside our tents.

I find the morning after as the best part of camping. When I open my eyes, I can hear birds and the cool morning breeze. In Cougar Rock, I was rewarded more with the awesome sighting of the huige mountain surrounding the campsite and the morning sun rays falling on parts of it.The campsite is great with flush toilets and seperate pads for cars and tents, and a nice sturdy grill over the fire pit.Tea, parathas and omlettes constituted a huge ulfilling breakfast. After cleaning up and packing everything, we were headed to the Narada Falls. This falls does not have much to mention, but the environment is very scenic. From there we went to the Paradise Valley again, this time with everybody.The Paradise Inn's cafe serves nice coffee and an awesome balcony to enjoy the mornings among serene nature. This time on, I have realized one more fact that even when we are seeing clouds above us and snow below us, a good UV protection is absolutely recommended because I am not feeling the sun, but it burnt me well. On mountain tops, the sun rays reflect from the snow and can cause more harm to human skin than on the grounds in the city.
Another hike worth mentioning from this recent trip is the Trail of Shadows near Longmire.This trail is through very tall and daunting trees casting a perennial shadow on us, and a feeling of insignificance.When one have travelled this path, he can realize that these trees have been here for ages and anyone trying to change it for any cause must be a fool.
And, as my wanderer heart has longed to take this trip for a long time since the day I moved to Seattle,after this trip,I have to go back there again soon to see the Sunrise.I will write about that then.

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