Mount Rainier Day 3: Again...Plan B!!!

July 28, 2012

The morning is cool, crisp with light broken clouds...looks like a perfect morning to head up the mountain...by RV, of course.

We get an early start, and head out on the hour-long drive to Sunrise on the northeastern side of Mount Rainier National Park. Sunrise is one of two major visitor centers (the other is Paradise on the south side of the mountain) and is a major jumping-off point (figuratively speaking) for many great hikes. One of our favorites is the Burroughs hike...there is an undulating ridge that comes off the mountain to the east/southeast and there are three crests along the way, each called Burroughs...First Burroughs, Second Burroughs, and Third Burroughs. We've hiked First and Second in the past and they give you views of the mountain that are unreal...like you could reach out and touch it. We want to try Burroughs today, but the ranger at the Ohanapecosh Visitors Center said that they are not recommending it due to the ice and snow that still remains on the trail. So, we'll make a final decision when we get to Sunrise, but we'd really like to hike Burroughs...

It is early, so we get those great, crisp, clear views of Mount Rainier as we approach Sunrise...

Sunrise, our starting point today, has a large parking lot to accommodate day and overnight hikers, as well as a lodge with a snack bar and a visitors center. Because we're early, the lot is not full at all...later in the day this lot will be completely filled. We get geared up, and hit the trail...

There is no shortage of breathtaking views...even as we climb up the trail out of Sunrise we are greeted with views of Mount Rainier to the west and the valley off to the south...

At the first viewpoint on the trail, we get a view to the north, and if you zoom in you can see the cascade mountains in the distance poking up through the clouds...

Just like we saw on the Crystal Lakes hike two days ago, flowers are blooming and the hill sides nearby are green...

There is still alot of snow on the ridges across from our trail..we wonder if it will melt out before the first snowfall which could be in a couple of months...!

Even as we make our way toward the trail intersection with the Burroughs Trail, we encounter snow...and we're really not that high up the mountain...!

We reach the decision point and we decide to try Burroughs...it looks pretty dry from here. We pass a threesome of hikers and they say that there is ice and snow across the trail so they turned back. We, being the intrepid (and perhaps a little hard-headed) hikers that we are, think that we can probably conquer any ice or snow we encounter...so upward and onward!

This particular trail takes us through a unique area of tundra, and the signs indicate that it is a fragile area so everyone should stay on the trail.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, there is another (temporary) sign also posted on the trail at this time...

Awwwww, they're probably just being extremely cautious and conservative...or maybe that was put here last week but the snow is almost gone by now...so, without any ice axes (or trekking poles for that matter) we continue on. We can do this...!

Hmmm, now that looks like a bit of tricky trail...ice and snow across a trail that is not only uphill but also side-hill...maybe if we take it slow we can make it across...let's give it a try...

Well, about halfway across the ice and snow patch, trying to dig our boots in to get some secure footing, and trying not to look down and think about the 75 yard slide to jagged rocks that lies to our right, we realize that this might not have been the smartest call. But we have to go all the way to the other side, there is no place to turn around! So we make it slowly to the other side and see the next snow and ice field ahead...which is bigger and surely more risky. The wise decision is to go back down and come back later in the season when the snow and ice are completely gone...we don't like to turn back, but we do.

On the way down we get a great view of Frozen Lake which is at the intersection of several trails in this area of the mountain, and where we will pick up our Plan B trail...Fremont Lookout.

At the bottom of the Burroughs Trail we intersect with the Fremont Trail and off we go...it's a bit of a rocky and dusty trail, but with all the snow around there are very few choices right now.

The bottom section of the Fremont Trail has some vegetation...and flowers are blooming here too...

As we climb the ridge toward the lookout, we look back across at the Burroughs Trail that we tried just an hour ago...and we can see the ice and snow fields that conspired against us...

More flowers greet us as we continue on, and then we encounter the rocky slide areas of the trail that will continue on until we reach the top.

This is a view of the trail and the Fremont Lookout at the end...there's not much growing here on this rocky, gravel ridge, but we're not in it for the trail...we're in it for the views that we will get from the lookout...

We get a sense for the views that lie ahead even as we wind our way along the side of this ridge...the day could not be more perfect for viewing Mount Rainier.

We reach the top..and the hike through dust and rock is worth it...we are afforded a wonderful view of Mount Rainier in all of its snow-capped glory...

To the right is a spectacular view of one of our favorite places on Mount Rainier...it is called Grand Park, and it is a gigantic flat spot on the side of the mountain that at this time of year is a beautiful meadow ringed by evergreen trees...

We enjoy our lunch taking in the nearly 360 degrees of views, and we check out the Lookout...

The lookout is part of a system of forest fire lookouts, and during forest fires (or forest fire season) rangers will climb up here and stay for several days looking for any signs of fires started by lightening or by man.

After lunch, we climb back down to Frozen Lake and then on to Sunrise, and we just can't help ourselves...we take more pictures of Mount Rainier looking gorgeous...

Frozen Lake...this time from the Fremont side!

More great views...

At the main trail in Sunrise, there are signs all over the place reminding folks not to stray off the paths...doing so can ruin an area of very fragile plants that are easily destroyed and will not grow back.

We drive back to our campground, get cleaned up and have our cocktails and dinner. Tonight there is a presentation by a park ranger on the history of Ohanapecosh and we've decided to check it out. The Ohanapecosh campground has a large amphitheater in which presentations are held, and there's a pretty good crowd here tonight.

The amphitheater has benches arranged in a semi-circle around a raised stage with a screen in the middle. It is pretty cool to be sitting and watching a presentation under and among the towering trees...

The presentation turns out to be about five minutes of tomorrow's weather forecast and tips on how to be "Bear Aware" followed by five minutes of history that could be gained from the signs on the Hot Springs trail, and then ramblings about why people enjoy camping at Ohanapecosh so much....we're not sure how long this last part went on, we got up and left after about fifteen minutes...

This is our last night at Ohanapecosh, our last night of this road trip, and our last trip of this amazing three month sabbatical. It has been an amazing combination of experiences, and it will be good to get home and hang out for a couple of weeks before the sabbatical ends.

 

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Mount Rainier Day Two...Houston, We Have a Problem

July 27, 2012

Well, this morning is very different from yesterday...it is cold, the clouds are so low there is a heavy mist in the air, and we wondering whether we'd be able to see anything if we went up the mountain to Sunrise which is several thousand feet higher than we are now.

So, we decide that since we have another day at Mount Rainier we will wait till tomorrow morning to go up to Sunrise, and this morning we will head into Packwood in search of Internet access.

Now, by way of background, the method by which we are blogging involves two iPads. We use Michael's iPad as the primary repository for photos, and Patty sorts through the daily pictures and selects a reasonable number of photos that tell the story of our day to create an album. We then upload that album to Picassa via an Internet connection, and once the photos reside at Picassa they are available to us to drag into our blog post. Michael uses Patty's iPad for the actual writing and editing of the blog post since the other iPad is generally busy working on pictures, and we have a app that let's us compose our blog writing offline.

So, we drive into Packwood and find a coffee shop that has Internet access...that means we're all set to start uploading pictures for future posts, and Michael can drag photos into the posts he has written and then post them for our (small but) adoring audience. It is at this moment that Patty's iPad decides to give up the ghost...yup, it develops what we find out later is a rare but critical hardware failure that eliminates its ability to connect to wi-fi.

Really?!!! Are you kidding us?!!! For all intents and purposes we're shut down until we get home and figure this problem out...we don't have a 3G cellular connection and even if we did we can't afford the time (or the data usage) to try to upload photos and post blog entries via cellular data...argh! Now we're really going to have a lag in blog posts...sorry folks...!

Time to cut our losses and move to Plan B...let's find a hike or two to do...maybe it will take our minds off of our blogging challenges...Fortunately there are lots of picturesque places at Mount Rainier, so it shouldn't be any big deal to choose something nice. Besides, on the drive back from Packwood the sun decides to come out...!

Here at Rainier there is a place called the Grove of the Partiarchs. It is a small island sitting in the middle of the Ohanapecosh River on which a grove of huge first-growth trees exists virtually untouched, and it is an easy, short, flat loop trail that we can get in before lunch.

Even before we cross the river to the actual Grove we walk among giant trees and only really get the full impact of how big they really are when we walk right up to them...

This is a very popular trail due to how easy it is for everyone to walk it, so the park service has placed a number of informational signs along the way explaining different facets of the forest and these huge trees...

As we mentioned, the Grove of the Patriarchs is located on an island in the Ohanapecosh River, so we have to cross a suspension bridge to get to the Grove...it's a very bouncy bridge, even when just one person is on it...and some folks don't read the "one person at a time" sign (or don't think it applies to them), but we manage to get the system back on track...Remember the flooding rains in 2006 we talked about earlier? Well, this bridge was destroyed by the river and the debris racing along with the floodwaters, so it is practically new!

As soon as we enter the Grove, we come upon this huge base of an uprooted tree. (It's kind of funny, we have a photo almost identical to this from a trip we made here ten hears ago...) This is the root structure of a tree that toppled in 1970...it was many hundreds of years old, and you can see how large it is compared to Patty...

Once we are inside the Grove of the Patriarchs we are struck by the scale of these trees...it is hard to capture the feeling on camera, but we'll try...The loop path through the Grove is a boardwalk so that visitors do not tread on the roots of these majestic trees (and wander other places where they are not supposed to)...

How's this for a good-sized tree?

The Park Service tries to leave this island as untouched as possible in terms of toppled and dead trees because it allows the natural cycle of life in the forest to continue. The cycle is explained in a sign, and we can see a living example right here...a dead tree becomes the foundation for new growth...

...and as huge as these trees are, when one serves as the foundation for new growth there is alot of opportunity for new growth! This was one very tall tree...!

The next natural wonder on the Grove loop is a pair of Douglas Fir trees, each of which are 1,000 years old or more. Think about that...these trees were 100 years old when the Knights Templar were founded, they were still young when the Magna Carta was signed and when Machu Picchu was constructed, they were here during the landing of Christopher Columbus on the continent, the French and Indian War, the French and American revolutions, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, Washington Statehood, and everything since...They have seen better days, the inside of the trees is rotted out and one is missing a top,but they are still alive and most impressive...

OK, we said that we couldn't really capture the magnitude of the Grove or the grandeur and stature of these giant trees, but here's an attempt...if you look really really hard you can see Patty among the trees in the center of this photo...honestly, this is not an altered photo, the trees are that big!

Here's another photo we hope gives a sense of the size of these trees...this is a toppled tree, and Patty is standing about two-thirds of the way along the trunk toward what was the top of the tree...you have to look hard, she's there, by the railing...

On the way back toward the river and the return trip on the Grove of the Patriarchs trail we catch this sign that we did not see on the way into the Grove...remember the large upturned tree with the roots showing (and Patty standing in front of it)? Well, this sign explains that there were two trees whose roots were mutually supporting each other as they grew side by side. In a storm in 2006 these trees topped, and headed in opposite directions due to the loss of support from each other. What's left are the two root structures on opposite sides of the trail, the roots on the left are being overgrown by the forest, and a new tree has decided to grown right up between the vestiges of the two toppled giants....pretty amazing...

As we cross the suspension bridge on our return trip we take a moment to enjoy the river as it rushes beneath us...

OK, now it's time to get back to our campground for lunch...and we decide to do a little housekeeping on our way back. There is one part of our camping experience we have not shared before (though we've referred to it with euphemisms) and that's what's know as "dumping"...yes, it is what you think, kind of. Our RV has three tanks built in...one for fresh water, one for "gray" water (from the sink and shower), and one for "black" water (from the toilet). So we decide to "dump" before getting back to our campsite, and there is a dump station at our campground (well away from camping sites..) so we pull up and empty the gray and black tanks. Believe us, you do want to wear rubber gloves when you do this...just in case...

Then we throw a little more fresh water into the fresh water tank...our filler hole is in the door frame of the rear door...nearly all dump stations will have a spot for dumping tanks and a separate spot for taking on fresh water.

What's great about parks in Washington is that nearly all have recycling, so we offload some recycling (where did all those wine bottles come from?).

After lunch we decide to go for another hike (since the Grove was amazing but not that strenuous) and have chosen the Silver Falls trail that starts right in the Ohanapecosh campground. On the way to the trailhead we stop on the bridge that runs across the river, and it is still rushing with snow melt. Some kids are taking part in a traditional Ohanapecosh activity...jumping from a huge boulder into the frigid water below (then paddling like hell to get to shore and get out!)...

The start to the trail is not hard to find...most trails don't look like a sidewalk like this one does. But it is a very popular trail because it also leads to the hot springs...on our way by, we decide to take a look at the hot springs...we read a little bit about them in the Visitors Center, so we're interested to see them ourselves.

The river is just so beautiful in the midday sun, and the rushing water so impressive, that we have to stop to take a picture...

A right turn and a short uphill walk gets us to the first sight of the hot springs and some background information. It seems that in the 1920's people were really in to resorts and retreats for cures to their maladies, and hot springs were supposed to be curative for all sorts of ailments and conditions. The resort here was open until the early 1960's, and today there is no sign of the buildings that were the resort.

The lower portion of the hot springs runoff colors the ground a tint of yellow, and the water is only lukewarm...

Further up the hill toward the actual hot springs the water collects in small pools and is pretty warm. Due to the minerals in the water as well as the temperature, the pools have some eerie colors to them...greens, yellows, oranges...

Back on the trail and headed toward Silver Falls we come across the Washington State mascot...the slug. This guy is big, black and supremely confident...he thinks he can get across this dry dusty trail without getting stepped on or drying out...

The Silver Creek trail is a loop that goes up one side of the Ohanapecosh River and down the other side...and along the way it crosses smaller creeks that feed into the Ohanapecosh. This is the Laughingwater Creek...hahahaglugglugglughahaha...

...really, that's what it's called...see?!

This trail is turning out to be quite a nature walk...we've never seen one of these before...we think it is a centipede...he too is an optimist as he traverses this popular hiking trail...

We reach our destination, Silver Falls, and there is some serious water cascading over the falls. The water in this river just looks cold...it is a pale icy green with a hint of gray...Because so much water is flowing over the falls, there is alot of mist rising in the air...

A bridge crosses the chasm jammed with boulders where the river continues to fall as it makes it's way to our campsite!

It's really a beautiful, narrow channel through the trees and rocks downstream...

On the other side of the river the trail winds it's way along the river bank which is a rocky ridge...here the trail passes under a huge rock outcropping...we pause (but only briefly!) to capture a picture, then scurry out from under this mass of granite...

The rest of the trail was smooth sailing and returned us to the opposite side of the river in our campground. So we clean up and begin our cocktails-dinner-campfire ritual...and, of course, where there's fire there's s'mores...

Evening falls and we take a walk around our campground....picking out the good campsites for our next visit!

Tomorrow we will get an early start and head up the mountain to Sunrise...and hopefully some great hiking with views of Mount Rainier, fingers crossed!

 

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