I'll admit we got off to a terrible start for the first part of the summer with very few overnight outings or day trips. Nothing on the scale of the infamous Churchill Family Yurt Tour 2013, that's for durn sure. But. BUT. Washington has saved us with a string of almost-too-good-to-be-true beautiful late summer weekends. Sorry rest of the country if that was not the case where you live.
On one such weekend, we decided to drive down to Mount Rainier National Park for a quick backpacking trip. One of my goals for the summer was to do more of that. We've had most of our gear since last year's Rialto Beach trip, but haven't used it for actual backpacking since then. Just a couple of regular old camping trips. So, we woke up, saw Rainier as clear as day from the city and decided to pack up and go for it.
We set out with nary a plan as to where we'd actually hike and camp. Because who needs to plan anything when going backcountry camping? KIDDING. We planned a little bit in terms of knowing the permit system and the fact that there were lots of options available for first-come-first-served sites. Luckily, Park Rangers are just the coolest. And luckily when we arrived we were the only ones in the office and this particular ranger appreciated rather than scorned our open-ended plans. He showed us what was available and suggested Shriner Peak.
Oh. Man. Best suggestion ever. The hike itself is moderate at 4 miles with a 3434 foot elevation change. There are only two campsites and the top which means it would not be crowded at all. And, it's got one of only four historic fire lookout buildings at Rainier National Park! This is all before mentioning the spectacular 360 degree views.
It starts out with a pretty steep ascent in a very forested area. It was a bit tough considering this was our first time doing an overnight trip with all our gear that included such an elevation change. I mean, I was sweating. But our packs felt good and it was really nice to be out. When we came around this corner, well, that was just about it. Look at this view:
What a sight! It's really a very good reward for not too demanding of a hike. We made it up and set up camp with plenty of time to spare before sundown. Both sites were empty when we arrived, which meant we were free to take the better one. Really, does it get any better than this?
After getting set up we walked back to the fire lookout and had our dinner on the wrap-around porch. I can't get over how beautiful the view of Mount Rainier is. I could stare at it for hours, and in fact did. Kevin did some really high quality glassing from the porch as well. The elk were really calling to each other and he was really hoping to see one through the specs. Unfortunately, they were either too far away to be visible or tucked into the trees, so we were only able to hear but not see them.
That night we happily tucked into our cozy tent with our heads toward east so we could be sure to see the sun come up. The sky was completely clear and the stars were just spectacular. Everything was quiet except for the elk, who continued to call as it got darker and darker.
The next morning, the sunrise was even more beautiful on the mountain than the sunset had been. You could really see the colors and shadows changing on the glaciers and I couldn't stop snapping pictures every few minutes as it transformed. It was a bit chilly, but not too cold and we were plenty bundled.
Even though we never saw any elk, we did see a track pretty close to our camp that had definitely not been there the night before. I get super excited by spotting animal tracks, especially when I see them before Kevin, and had to point this one out.
After a light breakfast we packed up camp with the sun on it's way up and started our trek down. It was so different to be on a hiking trail and not see anyone for so long! Usually on a lot of the hikes we've done out in Washington we see a lot of people on the trail, but this morning we were out ahead of everyone. I shouldn't say we didn't see anybody though. About a third of the way down, right among the huckleberry bushes, we interrupted a breakfasting black bear! Kevin was walking first at that time and saw him (or her) before I did. They both stopped in their tracks and stared for a few seconds before the bear turned and took off away from the trail. I barely even saw his little behind lobbing off into the brush! It was comforting to know he was so scared of us, but we still waited a bit before continuing on and made sure we were nice and loud through the rest of the huckleberry bushes.
We made it down in good time and did our usual post-camping/hiking tradition of stopping at a diner on the way out. There's nothing like a hot plate of hashbrowns and eggs after a night spent outside!
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