In Buckley, a city onthe way
to The Mountain, we got a very nice view over the roadway...
Entering the Mt Rainier
National Park. This section is also a state highway,
so there's no fee.
The views of the mountain
along SR 410 are AMAZING!
The last winter was
particularly troublesome -- over 100 inches of rain in one
day on two separate occasions -- and the road repairs were
still underway.
My Cousin, who had never
actually seen snow first hand, was pretty impressed with the
scenery
The Traditional "I was there"
picture...
What a great road to drive on!
I REALLY like scenic drives, and this one is one of the more
scenic!
Tipsoo Lake, nestled in
Chinook Pass, was still in the process of clearing itself of
snow. With as much snowfall as the area got, its
likely that not all of it will be gone by the time the next
season's snow begins to fall...
Mt Rainier, above a
snow-covered meadow.
Very shortly after the snow
melts away, the plants sprout and begin to flower.
They don't have much time before the next snowfall comes, so
things happen fast.
We walked around the lake, and
enjoyed the spectacular views.
The trail was either covered
in snow, or muddy... but it was still fun!
The flowers were sprouting...
in a month or so, the whole area will be covered in taller
plants, and an amazing array of colorful flowers!
We could see the traffic
backed up at one of the maintenance stops... we had to head
that way to get to our next stop.
Before too long, we were one
of the vehicles waiting to pass through the construction
zone.
It gave us an opportunity to
enjoy the view, so it wasn't so bad!
Its a pretty rugged stretch of
road!
Our next stop brought us into
the pay area of the National Park. I have a "golden
eagle" pass, a gift from The Shadow Lady, so we got in for
free. I REALLY like having that thing!
We stopped to get a bite to
eat at the Sunrise welcome center.
It was a pretty crowded place!
They were pretty slow about making the orders, too... but,
it was all there was, and it was actually pretty good stuff.
The view from Sunrise is
awesome!
We went on a brief walking
tour with the park ranger, who explained the importance of
the Mountain to the area, and the danger it potentially
poses to those who live in the area should it happen to
erupt. He also talked about the changing glaciers, and
the cycles they go through. I thought he was going to
harp on "Global Warming", but he said that the patterns
shown in the geology of the area show that the cycles have
been going on for a lot longer than we've been here, and
would continue, and the last few seasons have shown that the
glaciers are slowing, and could be on a period of rebound,
especially after the amount of snow that fell the last
couple of seasons.
Lots of ice! The top of
Rainier is a crater, and just visible in this shot is the
rim of the crater, where rocks, still warmed enough by what
lies beneath, lay exposed year round, melting the snow that
lands on them.
It was an interesting
discussion, and he mentioned various formations in the area
that created the land we were looking at and standing on.
He did bring us to some pretty
nice spots for incredible views... it was pretty
interesting.
.
The high mountain meadows
above the lodge with the restaurant makes for a great scene,
I think, anyway!
We took some "I was there"
pictures before we left... we were more than 6,000 feet
above the highest point we could get in his home state of
Florida!
I took a set of pictures and
made a panorama out of them...
The meadows were just staring
to light up with color, as the plants that take a bit longer
start to bloom. The ranger said that the meadows had
been uncovered about 2 weeks or so.
Heading down, we were treated
to some VERY nice parting shots... It was a very enjoyable
trip, and we couldn't have picked a better day for an
awesome drive!
My
cousin and I took a trip out to Mt Rainier, the "other"
famous volcano in the Seattle area.