It was our last weekend in Seattle before heading back to Colorado (boo-hoo!) so Denise and Roger joined us for a trip to the National Park, just a couple of hours drive from Seattle. We entered the park at the Northwest Entrance and exited at the Southeast Entrance, so we had numerous spectacular views of the mountain (which really can't be captured by a novice photographer!). Even though we can see Mt. Ranier from Seattle (and it seems quite close) that view pales in comparison to the close-up views in the National Park. We rented a cabin for Friday and Saturday nights, about 4 miles from the small town of Packwood, just south of the park. We could hear the river from the deck and it was located in a quiet little subdivision with no streetlights so the stars were easily visible.
Saturday afternoon we took a 1.5-mile walk to see the Patriarch trees -- mostly Western Hemlock, Red Cedar, and Douglas Fir varieties. It was interesting to learn that when the old trees die and fall, they are considered "nurse trees" and they provide nutrients for new trees, which grow right out of the fallen trunks.
Sunday we drove the winding road to the southwest entrance, completing our circle drive of the park. The visitor center at Paradise gave us our closest view of the mountain. Through our binolculars we even saw hikers up on the mountain. We also saw a group of buildings that serve as a base camp for climbers, half-way up the mountain.
Mt. Ranier is a volcano with an ice cap of 26 glaciers -- quite unusual for a volcano. From Seattle, it just looks like snow, but up close we could definitely see the blue color of the glaciers. Speaking of blue -- the sky was unusually blue, with no haze and no clouds. We even saw Mt. Baker, 40-miles away. Awesome weekend!
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