Mt. Rainier, or Mt. Ruh-neer, or Mt. Ray-neer

I’ve heard it all three ways, and that kind of thing bugs me!  I think it should be pronounced Mt. Ray-nee-ur, but I don’t live there, so I don’t get to decide what the rainy place gets called.  No matter how you say it, the roads leading to Mt. Rainier National Park were rich with the dense green foliage one expects to find in a rainforest, which is the climate we were venturing into.

In contrast to our tour of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, we were almost fully aware of the conditions we would encounter!

Accordingly, the very first thing we did was hang the tarp at our campsite, followed by setting up the tent and screen house, and eating.

Much to our delight and surprise, the second day gave us gorgeous weather, allowing excellent views of Mt. Rainier.  We could even see the very top of the mountain from a spot within our campground!  We drove up the winding Sunrise Park Road, comprised of a few hairpin curves and narrow shoulders, which hinted at the dangers of being off your game behind the wheel.  Giddily unaware was I that Ken was primed by the time we stopped at the parking area to view the mountain, for he has an innate ability to conceal his emotions at times.  Such a trait comes in handy when, say, buying a vehicle, but at other times, not so much.  This is where I proceeded to get myself scolded once again about staying away from the edges, which, by the way, are not funny to Ken.  I don’t exactly dangle myself off the edges of things, but I’m willing to get closer to them than Ken is, and if I don’t behave I hear about it.  Edges haunt me so!  I promptly got away from the danger zone, and took a few pictures before we moved on to the Sunrise Lodge Visitor Center.

The visitor center is situated at about 6,400 feet, where several trails are available for hiking.  We chose one and, not being acclimated to high elevations, made deliberately slow progress on the steep climb to the top of the ridge.

That's the trail!

The scenery from the trail was fantastic, and at the top was a spectacular view in all directions.

There's the Jeep!

Coming down the hillside went much quicker, after which we went inside the visitor center and spent considerable time looking at the displays.  I was also able to get a few nice shots zoomed in on the mountain and its glaciers.

We made our way back down that winding road to the campground, where we got busy with mealtime.  We also – finally – purchased some firewood and made our first campfire of the entire trip!  For one reason or another, we just hadn’t felt like making a fire until now… it’s un-American, I know.  We made up for it though; we cut the single bundle of wood into skinny little pieces and made that fire last for about three or four hours.

We were awakened by thunder the next morning, which has a completely different sound as it bounces around between the mountains.  We decided to finish sleeping in the Jeep, lest we have a nasty encounter with lightning, flash floods or mud slides!  We spent two more days in the park, which were rainy but uneventful.  Ken still had to check in with his job almost daily for the duration of our trip.  We spent considerable time and miles driving to town in search of cell phone coverage, where he could connect with his laptop and make phone calls.  While in town, we did laundry and got supplies, then meandered our way back to camp.  We filled the rest of our time there taking a couple of strolls around the campground, chatted with a Ranger and another camper, took some pictures, and relaxed with our laptops in the Jeep out of the rain.

More photos are in the photo album!