Mt. Rainier National Park- Thursday

Mt. Rainier

I drove to Washington today. It seems a little surreal. I left Oregon without going to the gas station because I didn't want to have someone else pump the gas for me again. That was strange. I decided yesterday that I wanted to try and go to a state park today because my driving time was only 5 1/2 hours. Looking at the map of Oregon and Washington, the one that stood out to me was Mt. Rainier National Park. I was slightly hesitant because it was at least an hour out of my way, however, mom threatened to tell Uncle Steve if I didn't go. So, I took off for Mt. Rainier intending to stay maybe an hour.

The drive to the park was so beautiful, for several miles there was a river at the base of a mountain winding next to the highway. Washington is so amazingly green. I stopped at several viewpoints along the way, one was a waterfall. It was so awesome. I can't believe how much water there is here. Next, I stopped at a Mt. Rainier viewpoint and got some pictures. The mountain almost seems to fade into the clouds. Very cool! My last stop before the park was the Palisades. It was a rock face with strange vertical rock formations that looked green. No one else was at the stop and I felt like the only person in the world. When looking at something so incredible, I wonder how people can doubt that there is a God. It seemed almost magical.

When I arrived at Mt. Rainier, I tried to pay with bills and change. The "friendly" park ranger semi-politely requested that I use a credit card because she didn't have anywhere to put the change. It wasn't like I was trying to give her 1500 pennies. I tried to give her $14 in bills and 4 quarters. Yeah, I agree. I would be pretty hard to keep track of 4 whole quarters. Rude Ranger Ruby.

Man those boots are awesome!

Once inside the park, I stopped at the first site to go look at a river. I put on my sweet hiking boots. I traversed all over in those boots all day and didn't get a single blister. Excellent choice Aunt Sally! Thank you! The next place I went was to Falls Creek. I was a beautiful waterfall. I climbed up to the top-ish area and tried to take some pictures, but I forgot my tripod so the photos show me running in or my head because I tried, unsuccessfully, to balance the camera on a rock. Not so much. Next, I went to Nickel Creek which was freaking amazing. You couldn't see the creek from the road, but you could hear it, so I went traipsing around to find it. It looked like a huge rock had been sheared in two and the creek was pulsing loudly from deep in the crevice.

This is a sidewys view of Nickel Creek

Sweet pic

I climbed all over those rocks - Darby, I was quite catlike. I saw a man on the other side of the creek. We waved, but no point in talking because I couldn't have heard him over the roar of the water. I took one picture at the edge of the land, where the trees were growing out of the rock before it fell away, plummeting down. I am really proud of that picture because it was close to the edge but you can’t really tell how high I am or that close by the cliff ends. Alas, it was cool despite the picture.

Nickel Creek

Next, I went to Box canyon. It was very neat. 180 feet to the bottom, it doesn’t seem like that in the picture, but it sure did when I was up there looking down! After that, I turned around and began to make my way out of the park because I had spent much more time than I had planned there. On my way out I stopped at a Mt. Rainier viewpoint to eat lunch and get a picture of Mt. Rainier and me. I don’t think a sandwich had ever tasted so good. (In KC before I left, I went to the store and got some lunch meat so that I could make sandwiches on my trip and then I wouldn’t have to buy any additional food)

I set up the tripod on a picnic table and then I had to hop a little fence and run (not gracefully) to get into the picture. This had to all be accomplished in 10 seconds. There may have been a few mishaps, but I got a couple of ones in the end.

 After I left the park I was driving north along the east side of the park. I think I must have stopped at all of the viewpoints and pull offs there were. It was mind-blowing. There were waterfalls, outstanding cliffs and canyons.

White River and me!

One river, White River, was amazing and again, I was the only one there. It seemed to me to be an air of wonder because this is such an amazing experience and I am so fortunate. Finally, I got to my campsite six hour later than if I hadn’t gone to Mt. Rainier, but I am so glad that I did. This was such a fantastic experience. To think, my life was so boring a week ago.