After picking up our tuna in Westport we spent the rest of the day moving east while avoiding Washington’s biggest cities. Making the loop from North Cascade to Olympic and then on to Rainer had the added bonus of creating a route that avoided the traffic and chaos of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. By late afternoon we were close enough to Mt. Rainier that we could get into the park and try and beat the big crowds we knew we’d find at Paradise. The next morning we arrived at Paradise fairly early, and just barely in time. The parking lot was filling with the hoardes.
Here’s our video of our entire trip to Washingtons three national parks:
We loaded up the pack for the day and hit the trail. The wildflowers were spectacular right from the start.
John Muir summed up the wildflower meadows found at Paradise, writing:
“Every one of these parks, great and small, is a garden filled knee-deep with fresh, lovely flowers of every hue, the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”
For someone who was a well travelled as Muir, that is saying a lot.
We linked several of the trail segments in the Paradise area together to make a loop hike for the day. Up we went.
We didn’t climb too far before the Tatoosh Range revealed itself.
Not everyone is an early riser. When you have a great view, I suppose there is no rush.
We had a front row seat to the mountain views all morning.
As we went a little higher the other Cascade peaks to the south started to show themselves. We were lucky to be there on such a clear day, the views stretched all the way to Oregon.
The hoary marmots look cute and cuddly, but it appears they have a mean streak as well.
Other wildlife were out enjoying the views as well.
One thing that was supremely irritating the entire day was the “meadow stompers”. You’d have to be entirely brain dead to not notice the signs at every turn pleading you to stay off the meadows and stick to the trails so there is a meadow here for future visitors. But for those that are a little dimmer than the rest there are also a lot of physical barriers by way of rocks and even ropes to reign in people from trampling what they came here to see. But that still wasn’t enough to stop people. At every turn there was someone stepping over barriers to stomp over wildflowers so they could get just the right selfie.
The day prior we had been to a supermarket. Upon entry there is a big sign letting you know that if you take a cart off the premises the wheels will lock up and the cart will become unusable. I started devising a similar technology that I am hoping the park service will adopt. Fit everyone with a shock collar that wants to hike the trails at Paradise. You stay on the trails, there’s no issue. You step off the first time, you get a slight twinge in your collar. You do it again, and ‘stun mode’ goes into effect. You’re dropped right on the spot, and you can’t move until the next park ranger comes along to issue your ticket and reset your collar. The technology apparently exists. Let’s put it to good use.
We finished off our loop later in the afternoon. The stroll around the meadows and parks of Paradise was unbelievably beautiful.
We had one more day planned for Rainier, visiting the other main access spot in the park, Sunrise. Sunrise has a timed entry permit system that limits the amount of people that can access the area. Permits were of course sold out, so our plan B was to enter the park early, before the permit system started for the day at 7 a.m. We were up early and as we drove into the park the mountain had a glorious glow as the surrounding area was still under the shadow of early morning.
Once again we loaded the pack and headed up the trail.
The wildlife was again out enjoying the mountain views.
Up we went and the glorious mountain views unfolded in front of us.
With this hike, our trip was coming to a close. We thought we’d spend another night out, but starting early meant we finished up our day fairly early as well. It was going to be in the upper 90’s in the afternoon, and sitting in the heat through the afternoon didn’t sound too appealing. Instead, we pointed the truck east and rolled back across eastern Washington as the mercury hit 106. We picked up some delicious peaches outside of Yakima and were home before dark. We’d come full circle on our tour of Washington’s national parks.
