Mt. Rainier

Labor Day weekend hike on Mt. Rainier

The weather Sunday was wonderful--hardly a cloud in the sky. We got up early and were there by 10:00 AM. Lucky thing, too, because when we got back to the parking lot after 4 hours of hiking on Skyline Trail, there were dozens of cars clogging the parking lot as they trolled for a spot.
We saw this from the road on the way to Rainier. I was going to make some guesses as to what it is, but I have no idea.We see Mt. Rainier all the time from Redmond. The view is really different from the south side.
A deer in the meadow on the way up the Skyline Trail. The last time we saw deer was in the San Juan Islands. They were about half the size of this one.Eric and I in front of some glaciers.
Along the trail.A funny rock column. It didn't look very volcanic to me.
Just beyond the flat area is where Camp Muir is, the halfway point on the climb up Mt. Rainier. With binoculars, we could see people trudging up the mountain towards it.Lunchtime!
We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, leftover cake from our engagement party (it had been in the freezer), hard boiled eggs, crackers, brie, and carrots.A panorama of the view from our lunch spot. Mt. Adams is the large peak on the left, and Mt. St Helens is barely visible above the clouds far off on the right, with a rounded top.
If you click on the picture to get the larger version and look carefully, you can see a dark streak in the sky, which is actually the shadow of the cloud.Lots of little streams coming from the snowfield melt
Eric with Mt. Rainier in the background.There was an abundance of gorgeous little wild streams.
Lenticular clouds to the east of Mt. Rainier.
The trail is really well built-up, with fancy bridges even for small streams.Another babbling brook.
Some more lenticular clouds. If you really want to see some fantastic pictures of lenticular clouds, click here.
A strange corona of clouds formed above Mt. Rainier in the afternoon.
Mt. Rainier above Myrtle Falls.We saw this strange rock formation as we were driving away from Paradise. The most likely cause would have been dynamiting away rock for the road, but I'd never seen that before. However, after posting a question on a geology newsgroup, the consensus was that that was exactly what had caused it.
This is Reflection Lake. It was a little too windy for a reflection, though.A view of Box Canyon, a narrow slit of a canyon
At the Grove of the Patriarchs. There were some huge old trees there, some of them still standing.
Some of the wildflowers we saw--Magenta Paintbrush...Beargrass
Purple AsterExamining Western Anemone and Mountain Lupine.
The Western Anemone looked like the end of a mop to me. Another name for them is "towheaded babies". Yet another that Brian Pendleton told me: "Mouse on a stick".
Ranger's ButtonsCorn lily
I couldn't figure these 2 out...