labor day 2010: mount rainier

We decided to take a relatively last-minute trip to visit Mount Rainier and Mt. St. Helens this past weekend. Although it was a little cold, we were lucky to have pretty good weather. This was such a fun trip that we've talked about making it a tradition each year - there are so many other trails and parts of the mountains (particularly Rainier) that we would love to explore.

We started our excursion by heading to Sunrise, which is the highest point that one can ascend Mt. Rainier by car. We picked this spot because there are several hikes in this area (see a list of day hikes at Mt. Rainier here).

Instead of doing one really long hike that day, we decided to do a sequence of short hikes. This picture is taken along the Nature Trail hike at Sunrise, which goes along Sourdough Ridge. This is a really easy hike and can be completed in 45 minutes - 1 hour.

After finishing that hike, we walked across the Sunrise trailhead to the Emmons Vista Overlook trail. This wasn't a very spectacular hike, but I did like seeing Secret Lake in the distance. This photo actually doesn't do justice to the coloring of the lake that day: it was a bright turquoise blue. I'd love to come back and do this hike another time.

As we left Sunrise, we got some great hiking advice from a ranger. J told her that we wanted to hike Silver Falls, and she recommended that we park just past the of the Stevens Canyon Entrance (the turnoff to Paradise, another popular Mt. Rainier area). She explained that from that parking lot there are two different trailheads, one to Silver Falls and the other to Grove of the Patriarchs. This isn't the typical way to hike Silver Falls (there is a much longer route described here), but I really recommend doing this hike if you have time constraints. It was easy to do Silver Falls, then backtrack to the parking lot, and begin a second hike to Grove of the Patriarchs. The two hikes are very different, and Grove of the Patriarchs is especially interesting and beautiful.

At the top of Silver Falls

Silver Falls


Grove of the Patriarchs is an area full of beautiful, ancient trees. There are interesting signs explaining the types of trees (as well as their history) along the trail.

Sam standing in a semi-hollow, fallen tree.

We stayed in Montlake that night, which is a little town between Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. This is the sign for the our motel. Don't be put-off by its dated appearance - the motel was quite clean and comfy, even though the air was a little stale.

We had our own little cottage for just $60. Not a bad deal, eh?

More weekend adventures to come. If you want a sneak peek, look here.