Magnificent Mount Rainier

We spent one full day exploring Asher's new favorite place, Mount Rainier. We had been admiring the mountain, visible from Seattle and Tacoma earlier in the week. After one full day, we barely scratched the surface. One really needs a minimum of three days to see the different areas of this national park in Washington state.

We chose the Paradise section as our destination for it's trails, however upon arrival we found out that most of the trails were closed for maintenance. Argh! The sky view trail was open, so we hiked that one and it had beautiful views.

Using Daddy's monocular to get a closer look.

You can just barely see the snow-covered peak just above the trail.

 Daddy and the kids on top of the waterfall. 

The peak is behind those clouds....

A foreign couple found this mama grasshopper carrying her baby on her back and saved them from being stepped on. I had to laugh when I walked over and realized, it's actually a mating couple. 

The kids participated in a ranger program which taught them how to identify animal tracks. Afterwards we went to a special area to find tracks and identify them. After this they completed their Jr Ranger books and received another badge.

We were lucky to get this view. During the park's video, we found out that the peak is often hidden behind thick cloud cover, so some visitors never get to see it's magnificence up close. Some of the glaciers are visible here.

This is Mirror Lake. This place is probably amazing early morning when the water is perfectly still and reflecting the mountain.

The park's Wonderland Trail circles the mountain with a 93 mile trail that takes 

about two weeks to complete. Maybe someday we will return to hike at least a portion of it. 

There are a couple wooden suspension bridges. We were looking for the 

pedestrian bridge, but found this one instead. It's a one lane bridge.

The 1937 Kenworth Touring Motorcoach that was used to transport visitors to the park from Seattle between 1937 and 1962. The top of the coach a cloth material secured by snaps that allows the top to be removed. The trip is very long today, I can't imagine how long it took in the 30s. 

Just outside the park are a few interesting sites. The first is this church, one of the smallest in the world, measuring 18ft x 24ft. It was built in 1906, seats 46 people and is still open for weekly services.

Another interesting place is the Hobo Inn. One of the largest collections of train cabooses turned into unique roadside lodging. Each caboose has all the comforts of a hotel, one even includes a jacuzzi tub. This would be a fun place to stay while exploring the mountain for a few days.

This area where the trees have been cut down, made for an interesting view. 

It's been more than a month since we were here, and just this week Asher named his robotic fish, Mt Rainier. That gives you an idea of the impression this mountain left on him. He speaks of it often.