Kellen and I spent a long weekend at Mt. Rainier National Park.
First stop: The Grove of the Patriachs
We stayed at Deer Creek Campground, which was right on a nice little river with only 2 tent sites available, so we were practically by ourselves :)
The first day there, we set up our camp which was a half mile hike in from the car. This was our warm up! We almost backpacked our gear up 5.5 miles, but that one was pre booked in our favor...
We explored Tipsoo Lake area and drove around the outskirts of the park after setting up camp. We knew the next day was gonna entail lots of hiking.
We opted to go to Sunrise Visitor Center so we could get some trail information from a ranger. We were going to head to Tolmie Peak Lookout, but instead headed towards the Burroughs. This way brought us closer to Rainier.
Frozen Lake: This is the reservoir for the park
Yup, still frozen!
Rainier sits at 14,400 feet and is the tallest in the Washington Cascade range. We seemed to be so close to it at 7,400 ft
The hardest part of this hike was passing this little snowy area
But we were lucky to see a herd of white mountain goats, lots of babies with them!
Then there were the alpine paint brushes
We stumbled upon Shadow Lake
Kellen in the Sunrise overlook
Day 3 we went to the NW side of the park to an old growth forest literally covered in wild flowers called Spray Falls Park. I just couldn't believe my eyes
I just couldn't believe the site of all these lilies!!!!
And of course Spray Falls has a waterfall
Gotta get up close and personal
