All play and no work

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Amy and I are on our way to Alaska for a small ship tour from Juneau to Sitka with Lindblad/National Geographic. More on that soon! 👏🏼

Meanwhile, we are in Seattle for a few days.

My past work-life brought me to Seattle and surrounding areas for more than 20 years. All the while, Mt. Rainier — all 14,410 feet of her — beckoned through windshields of rental cars and windows of conference rooms. Kind of like this (screenshot):

High time to get there!

A Springtime Adventure

May is early spring in the high country of the Pacific Northwest. With temps in the mid-50’s and a north wind blowing, distant views of the peak as we drove revealed swirling trails of snow & ice blowing off the peak. Unimaginable cold! How do mountaineers do what they do?

By noon when we were inside the park*, we were permitted only teasing glimpses of the mountaintop. *Why so late, you might wonder? Check the blooper section.

Clouds formed continually and danced around the summit.

Our lengthy study of clouds and blowing ice in front of the massive, majestic mountain revealed…a face. What is this expression? Is this being resigned to the adamant power of the stone and snow?

“Help”…?

Our best view was inside the Visitor Center. And what a cute traveling companion!

The Visitor Center, indicated by the yellow arrow, is at 6,400 feet. Less than halfway to the summit, but way too high to hike in the spring. So we drove back down to 3,000 feet for a hike to Carter Falls, shown by the red arrow.

On the way, we stopped at Naruda Falls. It speaks loudly and makes rainbows!

There’s that cute travel companion!

See her dance the Slushy Jiggy!

Your Federal Dollars at Work 💪🏼

The Carter Falls hike starts with a crossing of the Pisqually River. As noted in the NPS web page, the log bridge often gives out in the winter. https://www.nps.gov/places/carter-falls-trailhead.htm. We happened upon a crew at work. They had chosen a boulder, moved it about 10 feet, then, below, put it in place.

Sure enough, perfect placement.

The falls are along a tributary 1.2 miles up a trail that ascends from 3,000-3,650 feet.

We do a lot less hiking now that we are living the island life. The air we sucked in felt COLD. We had to pause and rest along the way. We checked our speeding pulse rates. It occurred to us …

OMG, we are in our very late 60’s!

The falls were loud, full, rewarding. After Naruda Falls, they appeared more as steep cascades than true falls.

In the end, our legs were happy to be used. The car kept us toasty warm. The bright green, springtime landscape of forests and meadows wowed us for the 2.5 hour drive each way.

A beautiful adventure in all ways.