Thursday: Mt Rainier, a pictorial

[dr4b]

Today Roman and I drove down to Mt. Rainier to go hiking. It was awful in Seattle when we left, all grey and foggy, but it cleared up when we got towards the south... and actually it was a pretty beautiful day in all.



We drove up to Sunrise, grabbed a quick lunch, and set out on the trail. We pretty much did the same trails I did two years ago August with the gang, except this time I didn't even remotely want to try the Mt. Fremont trail. So we went up to Frozen Lake and down Wonderland. There were some very nice rocks:



But near those rocks was a really awful awful part of the trail where the entire trail was buried in snow for about 50 feet and it was on the side of a cliff:



So yeah, the lesson here is not to go to Sunrise until August when it's all flowery and not snowy. Because I ended up using Roman and the snow as a handhold to get across that awful part and I thought I was frostbitten, I couldn't feel my hand for a while.

We met up with a park ranger who gave us directions. He turned out to be from PA also (he saw my Knoebels shirt and commented on it). He told us Wonderland was mostly buried but it wasn't treacherous. He was right... though it still sort of sucked trying not to fall down parts like this:



Oh yeah, and we saw some cute fuzzy things along the trail too.





We finished our hike around 5-something, drove back to Seattle and ended up at Red Robin for dinner. Mmm. Oh, stopped by Gary's Games to pick up Corsairs to bring down to California. Whee.

Then I spent the evening doing laundry, moving files to my laptop, and playing PP. I'm a little depressed over the PP meet, I can't honestly decide whether to go to the Looterati gathering or get on the Dev-boat. Oi.

Comments

[mithramuse.livejournal.com]

Cool pictures!! That looks like a wonderful area. When is the best time to visit Seattle? ^_^

And how close did you really get to the fuzzies? You look really close... are they they "used" to people (maybe hoping for a handout) or do you have a good zoom lens? ^_-

[mh75.livejournal.com]

August is generally the best time to visit Seattle. The weather is predictably good, and most stuff is open.

[dr4b]

Hehe, come visit in August, yeah.

The chipmunk was really tame, yeah. I was like a foot or two away from it.

[cellio]

I like the pictures of the fuzzy things. Did you use a zoom, or were you really that close?

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's the best picture of a chipmunk I've ever seen! What's the other thing, a marmot?

[bpr.livejournal.com]

Yay hiking! I'd like to go hiking once I get out to Seattle. Nice pictures too.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

i can't believe that Sunrise is open ALREADY. The first year i lived here the road to sunrise didn't open during the entire summer. It kind of scares me. The mountain still looks pure and sunny in the distance, but, boy, it must be empty.

i also am supremely jealous that you went to Ranier without me. Sigh.

[dr4b]

Heh, the trails were really pretty scary with all the snow though. Not sure all of the trails from Sunrise were open due to snow.

And I'd be happy to go back with you sometime too! But you know me, I'm a total wimp, so I can't imagine I'd be that much fun.

But yeah, it just seemed like as good a place as any to go hiking, and we had the time and I kinda knew my way around and all...

[mh75.livejournal.com]

For future reference, i have a lot of hiking books. Some of which require less bravery and less driving. its a shame i have to work all summer.

[ssaiscps.livejournal.com]

purty.

[eub.livejournal.com]

Rainier trip! Cool!

Those are some very good pictures.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

I like the rocks one.