Day 7: Monday 7/15/13 Hiking Mount Rainier and Seattle

As usual, we got up early, dragging Allie out of the tent, and headed up to Paradise, which is world-famous for its views and wildflower meadows.  There is an Inn there as well as a really nice visitor center. It's one of the highest points you can get to by car.  Many of the best hikes start from Paradise.  The area gets an average of 680 inches of snow each winter, and there was still a lot of snow on the mountain. 

The 2 pics below show a glacial valley where the glacier has receded and left what looks like a stream bed full of rocks.  The first one is taken from a bridge and the second one is taken way on up the mountain looking back down at the bridge.

The hike we went on  was the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point.  The ranger said the rest of the loop of Skyline Trail was not passable without crampons, which was funny because most of the trail we walked was covered in snow...I can't imagine what the rest of the trail was like!

These next pictures are from Panorama Point which is an incredible view at 6800 feet up Rainier.  Rainier is 14,410 high so we weren't even half way up!

I took the next pic with a filter on the camera.  Peeking out from the top you can see Mount Hood on the left and Mount St. Helens on the right.

There was even a potty up at Panorama Point built right into the mountain...

These next pics arc from Panorama Point   looking up towards Rainier...

More pics on the trail...

Below is a pic of the red algae that grows in places on snow...weird!

Beautiful wildflowers grow wherever the snow has melted...

Allie taking the easy way down...

After the hike we sadly realized our trip was coming to a close. On our way down the mountain and out of the park we stopped for lunch and splurged on a northwestern delicacy...blackberry pie!

A glacial lake we pased on the way to Seattle...

We got to Seattle around 4:30, showered and Todd and I drove to the wharf area. Sadly, the market had already closed. 

Day 6: Sunday 7/14/13 Pick up Allie and Drive to Mount Rainier

We picked Allie up at the Portland airport at 9:00 on Sunday morning and went straight to a laundromat to wash her entire bag of stinky clothes!  Then we went to our hotel so she could take a shower!  After that, we hit the road back north toward Mount Rainier.

We got a campsite that afternoon at Cougar Rock campground in Mount Rainier National Park, which was a beautiful campground with lots of spaces and good privacy.  We set up camp then went to explore a little.  We planned to do our long hike the next morning, so we walked the easy 1.2 mile loop of the Nisqually Vista Trail, which has great views of the Nisqually Glacier.  There are 25 glaciers on Mount Rainier.

We also stopped at Narada Falls, which is one of the more spectacular falls in the park, but does not compare to our falls in Pisgah National Forest!

We stopped along the main road and walked out to a glacial stream bed which was pretty amazing.

After this we headed back to our campsite for a gourmet dinner of hotdogs with sweet hot mustard and pepper jack cheese and fresh cherries for dessert (although Allie roasted some of hers on the stove).