Mount Rainier
September 12-13, 2022
September 12, 2022
We left Orcas Island on an early morning ferry. It stopped at two other islands before ending a 90 minute trip back at Anacortes. The air quality was a teensy bit better than yesterday.
We drove south on I-5 to Seattle through heavy traffic, and then to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. It is a well-designed, modern zoo.
Then we drove about an hour and a half to the town of Ashford, just outside the Nisqually entrance to Mt Rainier National Park. It was quite a bit cooler here, as we went from sea level to about 1,800 feet. We were concerned that because visibility was still bad, we would not see the mountain tomorrow.
September 13, 2022
We considered our options, and decided we would still try the National Park today. We left Ashford and drove to Mount Rainier National Park on WA706. Our first stop was Longmire, where we visited a nice museum and took a nature walk named Trail of the Shadows. The ranger encouraged us that the mountain might be above the clouds/smoke, or that the weather could change. So we continued up the mountain, stopping at the impressive Narada Falls (168 feet, lots of water).
We continued towards the main park center on the south of the mountain at Paradise, 5,400 feet in elevation. When we arrived, the clouds cleared from time to time, and we had glimpses of the 14,410 foot high mountain. We took a hike past Myrtle Falls to a meadow, where we saw a marmot. We drove east as far as Reflection Lake (the road was closed just beyond this for construction work).
After a picnic lunch back at Paradise with views of the mountain, we headed west to meet up with I-5, and from there drove south to Portland, where we spent the night.
