Mt. Rainier

We had so much fun!

I haven’t been up to Mt Rainier since I was a kid… I had forgotten what a magical place it is.

When you can see it, of course.  The first day up there, the mountain was completely covered in clouds.  Visibility was, well, like this:

Not very August-like.

Justin was a bit skeptical, thinking this whole Mt Rainier thing was just a hoax.

So after a short hike, we went back to our campsite and shivered for several hours.  But the next morning, we woke up to this:

(I’ll leave it to you to guess who was more enthused at this point in the morning). 

Not a cloud in sight!

Perfect day to hike.  Would have also been a perfect day to pack some sandwiches, but we couldn’t be bothered with petty details like that.  Thank God we packed some Triscuits and some granola bars.

Avalanche Lilies.  Straight out of the camera.  Gorgeous.

It was a little surreal to be hiking through snow in 70-degree weather, but many of the trails were still partially covered.  Lots of slipping and sliding, lots of giggling on my part. 

Oddly enough, the higher we climbed, the more wildflowers we saw (and smelled).  Up near the top, the lupine was strong and sweet.  Lots of deep inhales. 

Lots of deep breaths also partially due to the thinner air. I was dizzy a few times. Especially right around here:

But we made it!  A 1700′ ascent!

Here’s the panorama shot from Panorama Point:

Ah.  Well worth it.

The next day we took a quick jaunt to the lakes, and headed on home.

Note the sweet sunburn on my neck (reflection off the snow, oops).

Go team!  There’s no one I’d rather climb mountains with.