A trip to Mt. Rainier

This post will be largely just a bunch of boring pictures we took on the way, on, and returning from a day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park.  As the crow flies, the summit is only 28 miles from our RV park .... but it took nearly 2 hours to arrive at the highest point (5,000') by road.  From there, Paradise, the summit was still over 9,000' above us.

In the village of Elbe, WA we stopped for a quick burger.  Across the street a vendor selling fresh Rainier Cherries - I've eaten so many cherries out here I'm .... well... never mind.

And across the highway - The Hobo Inn.  Very clever.

Quite often Becky and I take "side trips" and we're never quite sure what we'll run across.

Well... I don't know where the pictures of our side trip went so I'll just go on to the rather unusual sign we saw as we exited back onto the highway.  

The main entrance was really inviting - it was HOT here that day, damn near 80 degrees!

Fortunately I really don't care to add a whole lot of boring details but a couple that might be of interest is that there are 12 glaciers flowing down from the summit.  In all, there are some 30 glaciers on the mountain.  Here's a few that have played themselves out somewhere back in history.

Typical "silty water" runoff from a glacier up hill from here

And here's a bunch of photos we took on our ride up the hill....

This was truly a pause that refreshed. 

There's a volcano in the background - you can see it if you kinda look through the trees but man, look at that beautiful truck!  Good ole Cummins Diesel is still running like a Swiss clock.  Pretty ain't it?

Ahhh haaaa... the following is one of the missing ones from our side trip, a beautiful 100 acre lake with just a few very lucky land owners homes on it..  What a view.

A few close ups of wild growing flowers along the way home

The devil made me do it!  This picture (well, most of it) was taken from our RV.  The mountain is real.  The colors in the picture are as they were.  The mist in the mid-ground is real as are the trees.  But that MOON must be confessed to be what it is... an EDITED-IN effect!  Looks good enough to howl at doesn't it!  Sorry, I couldn't resist!

The End

Mt Rainier

Don't forget... left click on the pic for an enlargment, then hit Esc to return to the blog... or just advance through the pics without having to suffer through the words....

So.... if you've followed this blog starting in Maine about 3 years ago, you'll know that I had several part time jobs... remember? ... Watching the tide to make sure it goes in and out as forecasted?  Also had those same part time jobs in Garibaldi, OR.  Well, I had to pass the part time work to our friends next door Ralph and Shelly.  I understand Shelly has been doing an excellent job keeping up with the comings and goings.

But now, many miles from the coast in Graham, WA,  I thought I might start getting bored with no part time work until it dawned on me... SOMEBODY had to watch to make sure Mt. Rainier would appear each time the clouds lifted.  And so my new part time job was born.

Here's where my work started.  Luckily I get this view from inside our trailer so no excuses, rain or shine the job goes on.   Can you see the summit? It's horizontally centered in the picture, slightly high from vertical center. You can't imagine how many times I thought I could see the dang mountain staring out at this gray on gray.

I took a quick break and when I resumed my stare... there she was.

And with 250mm zoom

It was hazy all day so we'll be getting better (I hope) pictures later in the week.  But I did want to capture the first few glimpses.

Stop the presses folks!  Just to show you this new job of mine is not "9 to 5" with an hour and a half lunch break, the following shot through the window was taken at about 8:30pm.  The RV Park is between the sun and Rainier... how something that was so destructive 5,000 years ago could be so beautiful now is just another of the mysteries and splendors surrounding the Universe or God - you pick which.  I prefer a combination of Both!  As it sits, the peak is at about 14,400 feet but back then, before the tea kettle started to whistle, and Rainier blew its top, it must have been up around 20,000 feet?

By the way.... NO tricks before the lens, or after the shot here.  THIS is exactly (?) what I saw out the window.  And just for the heck of it I also did a closer up that really didn't focus in very well due to low light levels - just as fishermen have a hundred excuses for not catching fish... photographers have just as many for crummy photos!

That's it for now......