Olympic National Park – Hurricane Hill

Most of Olympic National Park is inaccessible – unless you’re willing to hike there.  We were advised the best place to see the mountain peaks that form the park was from Hurricane Hill – so named for the wind that blows over this exposed ridge.

One of our most challenging hikes to-date, but, the views from the top were spectacular;

 
So close we could almost stroke her – and not too bothered by us being there;

 
Looking back down the route we’d just climbed;

 
 
Some young buck we met near the top;



Looking north over the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Canada on the horizon (about 40 miles away); 

 
Frozen lake.

 
J at the top playing in the snow, Mount Baker is in the background about 100 miles away;

 
The full Olympic mountain range;

 
The intrepid explorers;

 
 and their new pet, Murphy the Marmot;




Note the gormless expression – he’s going to fit right in…


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Olympic National Park – Marymere Falls

A little hike to get us started in Olympic Park.  Was a little disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to take a weapon with me – you never know what you may encounter in the woods;



The trail starts at a summer meadow;



winds through the trees;



Over a narrow and rickety old bridge;



and up to the falls;





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Mount Rainier – Day 3

Our third and last day in Rainier started warm and clear with only a small smattering of clouds on the mountain – maybe today we would see the top…

 
Today we decided to take a closer look at the glacial rubble field;

 


Someone at some point had decided that this was a good place for a trail, so built bridges over the river;

 
Quick glance back at the mountain – no, still covered in cloud;


 
Some of the bridges were quite big (yes, that’s P on the bridge)

 
Others, not so much;

 
Views of the mountain from the valley;

 
Kept an eye on the mountain just in case it cleared;

 
Back at our lodge, the welcoming committee were still there;

 
And sitting on the porch in the evening still waiting to see the top;


 
 
Finally at about 8.30pm we saw the mountain with no clouds;


 
Maybe one day we’ll be fit enough to climb to the top…


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Mount Rainier - Paradise

Back at Paradise we took some pics of the buildings, to contrast the old designs like the Mountain Guide Centre;



Against the new Visitors Centre;


Can’t quite make out the top of the mountain;



The mountain creates its own cloud layer whenever the wind blows, so it’s rare to be able to see the top;



Before leaving the top we had to leave a little something in the dirty snow to advertise our blog;



On the way back to our lodge we passed this glacial rubble field;

 
Before settling in to the rocking chairs on the porch to watch the sun go down on the mountain.  We had to do this because there’s no TV, cell phone or internet connection in the park…




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Mount Rainier – Firs, Falls & Fungus

Our second day in Mount Rainier National Park we drove to the eastern side of the mountain to find a grove of old redwood trees.
On the way we passed a mountain lake, still frozen;



The snow was piled high at the side of the lake;



The mountain scenery is stunning;



Here you can see where rock-slides & lava flows have taken out the road in previous years;




Our hike to the redwoods took us over raging waters;

And a variety of bridges.  Small;


And large;



Passing a huge fungus;



Before finally finding the Redwoods;



P with a couple of Douglas Firs so you can get a sense of the size of them;



J back to her ‘tree-hugging’ ways;





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Mount Rainer National Park

 

J saw Mount Rainier out of a distant office window in Seattle last year so we decided we had to visit, having done little research we booked ourselves into one of the lodges in the park.

Mount Rainier in Washington state is 10,000 ft tall, and is the tallest in the Cascades mountain range. 

When you enter the park you’re at about 2000 ft above sea level.  You then climb and climb through different ecosystems till you get to ‘Paradise’ and alpine meadow at about 7000 ft.  From there if you want to get to the top you’re on ‘Shanks's pony’.

This waterfall starts on one side and then crosses under the road;

It’s not called Rainier for nothing;

What we couldn’t believe was the amount of snow still by the side of the road.  And this is mid June.

Which only got deeper as you got close to Paradise.  It was time to put on just about all the warm weather clothes we owned, layers of t-shirts, fleece and then outer jacket.

 

P decided to wander up the mountain a little but it was quite tough going.  Lots of serious climbers and even some skiers

 

Paradise lodge in the snow; yes you can just about see the roofline above the snow.  And yes this is still mid June!

 

Jakki in the snow with Mount Rainier peak in the background.  Can’t quite see the top but can see quite high.

So we discovered that this year they had 680 inches of snow (a little, but not much, above average).  The most snow they’ve recorded in over 1000 inches in a season! 

I guess this explains why they still have snow late in June.

Back down the mountain a little to our lodge we were greeted by the welcoming committee;

 

These two hung around the lodge for the duration of our stay. I think they liked us.