Mt. Rainier
Wow, this is some BIG Mountain! And snow, I tell ya' there's a lot of snow there. If you stacked us one on top of the other -- all 6 of us, we would still be buried in snow -- and that was only part way up the mountain!
The road was only open about 15 miles into the park due to the snow, but we could go up as far as the Paradise Visitors Center. From there, people could go snow shoeing, cross country skiing or whatever else the humans do in the snow. Me personally, I think a hot fire with some Hot Catnip Chocolate with whipped cream is preferable.
But it was all very beautiful. Down in the lower elevations, where the snow was gone, there were a few trails open for Mom and Dad to hike. There was a beautiful waterfall too and a meadow that had a gigantic beaver dam. The beavers had been really working hard on some of the trees there and they looked like they were about to tumble over any minute!
All of the creeks, puddles, ponds and springs are full of lots of minerals that come from the volcanic mountain. So most of the creek beds are all red. When the spring thaw happens these creeks become raging torrents of water that take down everything in their way.
Here's More Information:
- National
Park Website
This is the official website for Mt. Rainier -
Satellite View
Ir you look at this map, you can see both Longmire and Paradise on the southern side of the mountain. Paradise is as far as we could drive. Longmire is where we did our hiking. -
More Info about Longmire
- More Info about Paradise
