We debated long and hard as to whether we should reroute and visit Mt. Rainier. We had seen Mt. Rainier previously, albeit never up close and personal. Since the weather was really nice and it was expected to remain as such for the upcoming days, we adjusted our jelly-like schedule and decided to go for it. We found a site available in a Washington utility park called Taidnapam with only 30 amps. We usually only do parks that have 50 amps, so we can run both air conditioners and I could use any necessary appliance without thinking about what I can and cannot use simultaneously. We also would not have access to satellite tv as we were tucked in the woods under many trees. However, it was not excessively hot and therefore didn’t really need to run both a/c’s and we agreed that we would survive without satellite access for a couple of days. Jackson loved sniffing out all the neighboring deer.
We allowed ourselves one full day of exploration and the decision to be made was to either drive the southern route to Paradise or northeast to the Crystal Mountain Summit and ride the gondola. Unfortunately, the road to Sunrise was closed and had yet to be cleared and since driving to Crystal Mountain would have made for an incredibly long day, we opted to drive to Paradise.
During the drive we made a stop at Narada Falls, where after a short hike, we were able to enjoy seeing a permanent rainbow at the bottom of the falls.
When the locals say the “Mountain is Out Today” it means the cloud conditions are such that they can view this 14,410′ behemoth, which is not a daily occurrence. Whenever it is “out” however, it dwarfs everything else. We were fortunate to have been favored by Mother Nature as our weather was spectacular.
We were glad we diverted our trip as it is not often the weather cooperates so marvelously. We reluctantly pick up and continued on to our next destination. Stay tuned!
The Wandering Lindstroms 