August 3 @ 4:49 pm
We crawl out of the primordial forests of the Pacific Northwest and resume the mantle of civilization. All participants have declared our trip a rousing success. We’ve taken hot showers, enjoyed flush toilets and taken advantage of a sparkling blue pool. Now all that remains is to process the photos and begin documenting the adventure.
Our trip was split into three main parts. First, we camped in and explored the Mount Rainier National Park. Then on to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount Saint Helens. And finally, a brief exploration of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. This post will cover the first portion of our trip.
The drive down to the area around Mount Rainier is one of my favorites. I love traveling on two lane highways, backroads, anything that has twists, turns and character. Vacations should never involve multi-lane highways unless absolutely necessary.
We left Friday afternoon after picking up our rental SUV (a Jeep Grand Cherokee) and loading up our gear and food. The first stage of our journey was to arrive at Cougar Rock Campground in the Mount Rainier National Park and establish our first night’s camp. This campground would prove to have the best facilities of the trip. By that I mean the toilets flushed, technology we would not see again until our motel stay in The Dalles at the end of the trip.
Our first night passed in comfort, thanks to the new larger tent and the addition of inflatable mattresses to our kit. Dinner was simply sandwiches and chips. This was a short overnight stay. We are nomadic campers, I don’t like to stay more than one or two nights at a given campground. We travel light and move on. We’ve gotten good at it, able to set or strike camp in roughly 30 minutes.
The next morning we continued on up to Paradise with stops anywhere that struck our fancy. A highlight of the day was visiting Narada Falls with a short hike down to the viewpoint at the base. Our brief tour of the park completed, it was time to exit the park and make our way to Elbe, WA for an excursion aboard the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad. It was enjoyable though I don’t think I’d bother with it again. If you are a train enthusiast it is definately worth your while, but if you are after the scenery you can get better views from the highway frankly.
Next post, on to the Gilford Pinchot National Forest and our first campsite at Iron Creek.
Click here to see more photos from our visit to Mount Rainier.
August 3 @ 6:08 pm
We Return
nice..
August 3 @ 9:26 pm
Ooh, looks fab. So glad to hear you had a spectacular trip!!
August 3 @ 9:27 pm
Did ya get bit by lots of mosquitos? :dizzy:
August 3 @ 9:28 pm
Air mattresses make for lots of comfy sleeping. We added that to our list for camping…no matter how light we wanna go.
I was just rallying the troops to spam you when you popped up with this post.
Next time pal. Your number is UP!!
August 3 @ 10:00 pm
I don’t have enough commenters to worry about getting spammed by them! It was a great trip, at least two more write-ups for you to look forward to too!
The bugs weren’t too bad. We normally have a citronella candle burning in camp and I use an insect repellent from REI called “Jungle Juice” that has proven to be effective. It was actually pretty cold so that helped too!
August 4 @ 4:16 am
Wow… the pics are fantastic. I can’t believe how GREEN everything is! Everything is so dead & brown here these days.
It looks like heaven on earth ~ just peace & quiet…
M~
August 4 @ 4:28 am
I LOVE green! Looks like you had a really good time!
August 4 @ 7:34 am
Wow, I don’t camp and even this made me consider camping. Beeeeeautiful!
August 4 @ 8:44 am
Welcome back… you made it back unscathed from injury and blogging coments. Great Pictures!
One of the guys from work was at Mt. Rainier late last week!
August 4 @ 12:38 pm
I had to laugh when you said : “I don’t have enough commenters to worry about getting spammed by them!” You’d be suprise what just a couple of us can do…I’m with Pam, you’re up next! LOL
The photos are FABULOUS! It looks like from the pics that your kids are good friends..I remember my brother and I at that age, and there are no such photos of us with our arms around each other and smiles on our faces. Kudo’s to you for raising them to be friends!
Your scenery shots made me homesick for WA, as much as I complained about living there, it is by far one of the most spectacularly beautiful places I have ever lived! Love it. Stacie 0==(D)
August 4 @ 12:40 pm
ps..I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip!
oh..ps again. You have some photos on flickr that look like were taken at an outdoor play, is there a story coming up about this? They are great pics! Stacie 0==(D)
August 4 @ 2:35 pm
My favorite two photos: Touring, and Flowers.
Great shots. I love waterfalls.
Mt. Rainier. Haven’t been in ages. And, I had relatives that lived along the Columbia Gorge. Beautiful area. Did you go to Multnoma Falls?
~S
August 5 @ 10:54 am
Looks and sounds fabulous. Airbeds are a must when camping, for a good nights sleep.. at least for me.
Mind you, I’ve only camped once lol
August 7 @ 9:37 am
We also added on a bigger tent and inflatable bed… much nicer. Now if I could have had non-freezing temps at night, that would have been nice. Great pics!