Mt. Rainier

Anton was taking his scouts out into the wilderness for a week and he asked if we could help drive them to the trail head. The drop-off location was very near Mt. Rainier NP, so we thought we could make a nice day of it. Here they are before we left them to the wilds.

It was a beautiful day at the mountain with clear, blue skies. Magnus was very excited by the mountain. We made some quick stops on the way to Paradise. Reflection Lake was not very mirror like that day.

At Paradise we did the short hike to Myrtle Falls. Last time I took Ruth here was in July 2008, and these meadows were still covered in about 10 feet of snow. This time there were lots of flowers and even a marmot there.

We stopped to see Narada Falls:

Then Ruth dropped me off to hike to Comet Falls while she and the boys rested in a picnic area.

The hike up Van Trump Creek has several waterfalls on it. Here are Lower Van Trump Falls, Van Trump Falls and Bloucher Falls:

But the reason you climb 1200 feet in 1.5 miles is to see Comet Falls; at 462 feet tall it is regarded as the best waterfall in the park where there are over 150 waterfalls known. It was amazing. Getting near to it the air and water blowing off it made it hard to stand and breath. It was worth the hike.

Back at the bottom we spent some time at Christine Falls, the last waterfall on Van Trump Creek. This is one of the most well known falls in the park.

Getting back to the car we noticed one tire seemed low. Stopping to fill it with air we found it had a leak. We were able to make it to the small town of Morton, WA which had a car shop. But due to the late hour we were forced to stay there for the night. (Plus our spare tire sprang leak). We were very grateful we could make it to a town safely, rather than be stuck on the side of a road. We count this a great blessing. The next morning we got the tire fixed and made it home. Even with those problems we had a great time at Mt. Rainier, and were happy we could go.

Bonus roadside water falls (Falls Creek Falls, Picture Frame Falls, Edith Gorge Falls, Sluiskin Falls):