Category: Mt. Rainier

From the moment you arrive at the Sunrise parking lot, you find yourself looking up at the mountain.

The further you climb, the larger the mountain looms as you begin to realize it consists of enormous ridge lines

that dwarf any ridge lines

you’ve already surmounted.

Arriving at the peak of the day’s hike, incredibly the mountain looms even higher than it did before you started your climb,

and you’re left looking up.

The best thing about last week’s trip to Mount Rainier was sharing it with Tyson and his family. As an avid environmentalist, I’m constantly amazed when people say we’re more concerned with trees and wildlife than we are people, and, as far as I am concerned, nothing could be further from the truth. Experiencing Nature is a vital part of what it has always meant to be â€?”human.” The best times I’ve spent with my kids have been while hiking or backpacking.

Unfortunately, Tyson maintains a pretty hectic work schedule, and even though he was officially on vacation, he got a phone call when we were at Paradise, the only place you could actually get cellphone reception.



It almost seemed heretical to me to be talking business while on the mountaintop, but here I was taking photographs for my blog instead of focusing on the moment and interacting with those who were there.



Luckily, I was able to rationalize that I was taking photographs so that I and the others would remember this trip in the future.

I’m not sure that hiking is really Zoe’s favorite activity, but she’s actually a pretty good hiker, even if she’d prefer to listen to her iPod.



It wasn’t long, though, before she’d put away her headphones and was helping us take pictures of the Avalanche Lilies along the trail, pointing them out before we could reach them.

Logan, the oldest, was an even better hiker and spent most of the day in front with Jen, except when he waited for us to catch up with him.



I’m not too sure about Sydney, the baby, though. At this stage she wouldn’t even consider hiking without her iPod, and wanted to be carried much of the time.



Luckily she’s still young and hopefully before long she’ll be keeping up with her brother and sister. I’m pretty sure that her mother loves hiking or she wouldn’t have gone to all the effort it took to make this hike take place.



Personally, I don’t know of a better way to build family togetherness than to go camping and share the joy of a beautiful hike.

This year’s increased snowfall has enhanced the beauty of Mt. Rainier’s many rivers and waterfalls.

Innumerable small falls line the road to Paradise.

Paradise Creek

seems more river than creek.

Narada Falls seems more magnificent than usual.

Further down the mountain, Christine Falls

causes traffic jams as drivers pull off the road to photograph it.

While I didn’t see a lot of wildlife on Mt. Rainier, particularly the ones I most wanted to see, I did enjoy those I did see. Most of the wildlife pictures I took were in camp the first four hours, before Tyson and his family, and host of other people, arrived at the camp.

I was greeted by this Stellar Jay at the entrance to Cougar Rock Campground

but I didn’t notice until I brought it up on the computer that it had been tagged, as indicated by the metal band on his leg.

Strangely, the only other bird I saw in camp, this Gray Jay (aka Robber Jay)

was also banded. Perhaps that explains why they were actually quite shy, particularly for a Robber Jay, one of the boldest birds I’ve ever observed previously.

Although I saw several Stellar Jays in the three days we were there, the only other bird I observed was another favorite, a Varied Thrush,

the first time I’ve ever observed one in its native habitat, and outside my backyard.

Although I would really have loved to get a picture of the foxes and bears that all the campground signs said not to feed, all I managed to get a picture of was this chipmunk, who seemed content to find all of his own food:

In another year, when we could get closer to the mountain, I’m sure I could have gotten a picture of a Pika or even a Mountain Goat, but I certainly saw more wildlife than I would have seen if I’d stayed home typing on this computer.