A new adventure

So, after Rainier, I headed out the south east gate and returned to the land of cell phone service and free wi-fi.  I have been patiently waiting for some work to come thru,  but still nothing.  So, I opted for a day trip to see the devastation from the 1980 eruption. You can definitely still see where the debris flowed down the valley.  Wide trench and very little growing there.  Interestingly, with the large trees gone along the riverbed, new grasses and flowers have taken hold.  These in turn have drawn elk herds into the valley and the elk population is strong and healthy.  I did have a bit of a reality check at one of the overlooks.  I realized that after watching the film at the visitor center, and seeing pictures of the utter devastation done to the area, that every tree and bush I saw was younger than me.  Such a difference going from an old growth forest into a new forest that was just getting started. The visitor center had a nic...

After a cold night,  I got up and packed up my campsite.  The goal for the day was to do a 2 hour hike, then head down to the Ohanapecosh campground in the southeast corner of the park.  When I parked at the trailhead for a hike near my current campground, I started taking some pictures for a family.  We started talking about the hikes we were planning, and I realized that since he guy had done the 93 mile Wonderland loop trail all the way around Mt Rainier twice, he might know a bit about "the most beautiful area on Rainier".  So, I switched my plans on the spur of the moment,  and found a new trail head that cut off an extra 5 miles from the place the family was leaving from. It was a really outstanding area to hike in, and Summerland is a great name to describe the area .  It was a 9 mile hike in total, and  2100 foot elevation change.  Tough hike after the previous day out on the Burroughs,  but well worth the achy knees.  Big ...

I got up a bit early and headed out to the next area to visit.  I was able to find a campsite very easily.  Phew!  Apparently most people don't like to camp at higher elevations and deal with the cold.  I think it was around 38 degrees that night.  No problem for me, just got some of the winter sleeping gear back out. The weather was  beautiful.  Blue skies as far as I could see.  How lucky am I?  Stopped at the visitor center and got some good advice for trails with good views of the mountain.  It was all alpine hiking, so lots of wildflowers and some alpine tundra.  Ended up hiking out to the 2nd Burroughs and stopping there for lunch with a view. Pretty tuckered out after the 7 miles and the 1200 elevation,  but was content.  Enjoyed some nice hot soup for dinner and some conversation with my neighbor.  He is like me, not sure when his trip will be over.  He had only been on the road for a couple if days, s...

So I hid out for a couple of days at an Air B&B to catch up on some work.  Nice lady who has spent her life in the theater.  We got along really well, and she joined me for dinner so we could spend more time together when I was not working.  Nice little place out in the county with cows in the pasture across the road.  I headed in to the park, and was fortunate to find a camping spot at Cougar Rock.  Very busy place for a Monday.   Set up my campsite and then headed to the Paradise area to check out the hikes.  I got lucky and the clouds were breaking up just as I arrived.  I decided to do some light hiking and enjoy the views while I could.  I selected a side trail that took me out to where a glacier terminated,  and got to see some huge waterfalls.  I was also impressed by the giant valley that had been carved by thousands of year of glacier activity.   The trail wasn't maintained,  so I had the place to ...