Blogs from Mt Rainier, Washington, United States, North America - page 2

Up early this morning as we wanted to visit Mt Rainier National Park. It is around a 2 hour drive out of Seattle with plenty of stunning scenery along the drive. On the way we checked out crystal mountain resort. Of course no snow there at the moment but it is a picturesque drive and I imagine its is very busy during the ski season. Stopped by at the Silver Creek Guard Station and had a chat with the park ranger. I love chatting to the rangers their lives are so interesting and very basic. I think they know the secret to a happy life - get out of the city and spend your life with nature!! We drove along Mather memorial Parkway looking for spots to get photos of her majesty - Mt Rainier. There ... read more

Today we went to Mt. Rainier. We entered the National Park from the Southwest (Ashford) which worked out well. There were many signs along the way to direct us to the park. We could have taken a train ride in a town call Elbe which we passed along the way, but we didn’t have time. It looked like the train place also had lodging there in some of the trains – not sure about that since we didn’t investigate it. The visitor center in the park is beautiful and the view of Mt. Rainier is fantastic. We only went that far and then headed back out because we also wanted to go to Olympia to see the capitol. If you had a whole day it would be good since the park is huge. We arrived in ... read more

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 ... read more

Driving Mount Rainier Today I explore Mount Rainier in earnest. My first order of business is to find a campsite. With everything going on, I forgot to get reservations for tonight. I have to take a chance with getting one of the first come sites, and that means getting there early. The first sight I saw today is the bridge over the Nisqually from yesterday. The clouds were replaced by a perfect view of the river going straight up a large white mountain! Despite the time risk, I had to see the view from the official pullout, which was even better. Mount Rainier filled half the sky in all its glory. The mountain is big from a long distance (see ); close up its overwhelming. I bypassed Paradise and its traffic headaches, so the next thing ... read more

From B-E-A-U-tiful Crater Lake we made our way up to Bend, OR and enjoyed the town who's reputation as being a really great city was definitely earned in our short time there. Because of the need for rest, laundry and tending to personal hygiene we, unfortunately, spent much of our time in the motel. We got to Mt. Rainier NP late on Friday after a long day of state highway driving enoying the variety of Oregon geography, from forest to flat fields to deserts to seeing Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams on the horizon. Arriving at a NP in July late on Friday evening without a campground reservation is stupid at best, particularly with our knowledge of pay camping learned so far. Oddly all the campgrounds we checked were FULL, hmmm, who'd expected that? Luckily the ... read more