Mount Rainier Day Trip

Mom had  a few days off from work and wanted to go somewhere for at least a day.  She originally wanted to go to Sumpter, Oregon for two days but I had to work on one of my days off.  So that was a no go.  I asked her where else she would like to go that was relatively close.  She said, "I haven't been to Mount Rainier in a while."

Looks like we were going to Mount Rainier for the day.

I told Ben what the plan was and he decided he wanted to go with us even though he would be functioning on maybe 3 hours of sleep.  He needed to be at our house around 9 a.m.  We had one problem, mom's car was broken and mine would blow up if we drove it that far.  We asked Grandma if she wanted to go on a day trip to Mount Rainier.  We also mentioned that we would need to drive her van.  She didn't sound certain at first so we gave her a few hours to think about it.  A little while later she called back and was on board.  I assured her we would pay for gas and the entrance fee.  I left off with she needed to be ready by 9 with some food for the day.

I set my alarm for 8 and slowly got out of bed.  I was tired.  I made some sandwiches for everyone, grabbed my bag of chips and popcorn and some drinks and threw them in the cooler.  We didn't have any ice so we used some temporary ice packs until we stopped for gas.  I put my clothes on, made sure I had the passes and GPS's and my camera just in case.  Ben arrived just after 9, we loaded my car with everything and drove to Grandma's house.

We put everything in the van, made everyone comfortable and drove off towards Yelm to get gas and ice.  Mom got the gas while Ben and I went into the store to grab ice and some energy shots.  He bought a muffin too.  I could tell he was tired.  We dumped the ice into the cooler and we were now on our way to the mountain.

The drive up went pretty fast.  We decided to go through Eatonville just to avoid the swirly part of Hwy 7, mostly for Grandma's sake.  We got back onto Hwy 7, through Elbe and on towards Ashford.  I really wanted to stop at the sculpture place but bypassed it for another day.  We got to the entrance and paid our $15 fee.  And then we got stuck in construction.  They were making improvements on the road.  Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long.

Our first stop was in Longmire.  We pulled off the road into the parking lot and we all used the restroom.  We walked around a bit and then went to the visitor's center.  I tried to eat Mount Rainier.

We went back outside and decided to walk around the Trail of Shadows, a one mile loop with various mineral water wells.  We enjoyed our short walk through the forest and the meadow.  For more info: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/trail-of-the-shadows

We went back to the van, ate some snacks along the way and moved onto the next attraction.  That was up the road at Christine Falls.  It  is a tiered 69 foot waterfall with a bridge spanning across its lower section.  There is a pull off we parked the van into and walked down to the view point.  We took several pictures but the shadows were too dark for selfies.

We walked back up to the van and decided to walk the road to the rock bridge to peer over the side.  We saw lots of sweet views of the waterfall.  We walked back and moved onto the next waterfall, Narada.

Narada Falls is a 188 foot horsetail waterfall that is the most popular in the park because the highway crosses between the two tiers.  It also flows from an inactive glacier which is why the water is clear.  We walked the short hike down to the viewpoint.

We wandered around for a while.  Ben and I explored underneath the bridge and he slipped and fell.  Luckily he didn't fall into the river.  Grandma and mom used the restroom and we all got into the van had drove the long windy road up to Paradise.  About half way there, I noticed the giant cloud settling over the mountain.  I was outraged.  It was a beautiful clear day and the one cloud in the sky was in front of Mount Rainier!!  Lame!

When we got up to Paradise, we had to park in one of the lower lots because there were a butt ton of people at the mountain today.  Everyone must be getting in that last trip before school starts.  We walked up to the lodge and yep, Mount Rainier had a huge cloud of dumb covering it up.  That was the point of coming up here in the first place, to see the view!  I grumbled some more.  We went into the visitor's center and into the gift shop just to see what they had.  I bought some stickers and a reusable grocery bag for mom to match her Joshua Tree bag I got her back in April.

We walked up the Skyline Trail towards Myrtle Falls.  This trip we were more concerned about quick and or car access waterfalls.  Someday maybe more adventurous ones.  We hiked the quarter of a mile to see Myrtle Falls.

We were getting hungry so we walked back to the van.  I got out our sandwiches and chips.  My bag of Doritos blew up like a balloon because of the high elevation.

We drove to the junction and drove towards Ohanapecosh and Reflection Lake.  Reflection Lake was pretty disappointing because the mountain was covered up by the only giant cloud in the sky.  We stopped for a few minutes but no one was really interested in getting out.  We drove further and got out at Box Canyon.  The muddy Cowlitz River carved out a really deep slot-canyon over 180 feet down below from where we stood.  It was incredible.  Also nearby were polished rocks from retreating glaciers over thousands of years ago.

We made one more stop before exiting the National Park, a place I have not been to, Grove of the Patriarchs.  It was a 1.5 round trip loop around giant old growth trees and paralleled the Ohanapecosh River.  We walked it as fast as Grandma could go.  We saw some giant trees.

We reached the suspension bridge.  We had to cross it one at a time.

Once on the other side, we followed the wooden boardwalk filled with information of many giant trees.  We stopped and took a generation picture.

Then finished the rest of the loop, back over the bridge and towards the van.  We all used the bathroom, got in the van and left the park via Hwy 123.  I really wanted to go up to Tipsoo Lake but the cloud still covered the money shot of the mountain.  Hwy 123 eventually merged onto Hwy 12 near the Ohanapecosh camping area.  We followed it into Packwood and got out to find a cache that was missing.  Everyone else in town were getting ready for the Labor Day flea market.  I really wanted to go...maybe someday.

We stopped in Randle to grab a cache called Silverbrook Falls (GC287BD).  The creek was really called Hopkins Creek that eventually ran into the Cowlitz River.  We found the cache and admired the waterfall nearby.  Two local residents were using the creek to funnel water to their houses.

From there, we continued on Hwy 12 through Morton and Mossyrock.  We took it to I-5 and north towards Centralia because mom wanted Papa Pete's Pizza for dinner.  That is where we stopped for the evening.  We stuffed ourselves with pizza and then took Grandma home, traded vehicles and went home.  We got home just after 9 p.m.  It was a good day filled with family, fun, sunshine and an experience.

Next Adventure:  The 7 Souvenirs of August (#7SoA)