Friday: started early for the three-hour drive to Rainier, had lunch and some geocaches in Elbe, got our campsite, took a little hike to the gift shop at Longmire, about 3 miles round trip.

There were so many huckleberries, I’ve never seen them this numerous or this large. Tart and perfect. There were blueberries too, but they were remarkably bland.

Total burn ban on of course, but we brought a propane fire pit and were able to grill hot dogs and roast (well, ignite) marshmallows over it.

Someone reported our fire to the park ranger, who came and double-checked we were good. No ill will there, I’d have reported a fire too, though I might have come and said something first. No one else in the park had one, it was almost eerie how silent and dark it was considering the 280 sites were all full.

After dark, we attended a little presentation by a baby park ranger and won some stickers for knowing volcano facts. Then we drove up the mountain to the visitors center for another presentation, this one on constellations.

They had the most powerful laser pointer I’ve ever seen to indicate stars with (aided no doubt by the gaze from the wildfires just East) and a giant telescope to show us mountains on the moon.

Then I slept in my hammock under the hazy stars and it was incredibly nice.

Saturday, we all got up early, devoured breakfast, and went back uphill to Paradise Meadows. I originally had some idea to walk the 7 mile Skyline Trail, but its steep switchbacks were daunting from below and my party hadn’t all gotten their long rest in.

So we did a quick walk to Myrtle Falls and back, then took the Alta Vista loop to its high but approachable viewpoints.

The wildlife up here give no fucks, probably largely due to the fact that visiters aren’t allowed to bring dogs.

Ground squirrel ignoring his paparazzi to dig a cool shallow hole for lying in directly next to the very busy footpath.

Then we saw this marmot. he began a few yards away, then ambled directly to us to chill in the front of his burrow and get comfy. I do not know by what inhuman effort I resisted petting him.

. Alta Vista views

And on the way back down, we saw four more marmots playing together, two adults and two babies. I didn’t get any pics of all four together, but here is one pair:

And then the other baby perched up on this rock to reeeeach and eat grass-heads.

And there were flowers everywhere and also some grouse.

From the trail, we at first thought that grouse was another marmot or a hare, which led to some funny eavesdropping:
Guy: Oh, there’s a marmot over there on that rock!
His girlfriend, looking excitedly in entirely the wrong direction: Oh, which rock?
Guy: The one with a marmot on it.

Then we went to Christine Falls, which is much lower in elevation and is precious to me, just a gorgeous place just off the road.

The picture log stops here, I’m afraid. We made burgers for dinner, played some cards, and it began to sprinkle. In the time it took us to pick up the cards, the skies opened like a faucet, and our campsite was flooding. Ankle deep in water flowing off the road through our camp and into a gully.

I don’t think it took us 10 minutes after those first drops to decide we had to leave.

Our tents were floating and we had to take turns standing under our canopy holding it up so it didn’t belly with water, but we threw everything into the car as fast as possible and got out of there, along with a long line of other park evacuees.

Lightning chased us the whole drive home, every minute or two. It was a really nice drive, in the storm-black night with The Midnight playing.

/chin hands yessssss

oh wow, I WANT TO GO THERE

oh my god that rain was epic, I'm so glad you guys are ok

Fuzzytale: Mount Rainier Nat’l Park, everyone shd go here. It’s incredible.

original_fine: yep, we were fine, and spirits stayed high.

gonna lean on Mike and the kids, maybe show them your pics at family dinner Friday

aaaaaaaaah

To consider, the park books up early so look up when campsite reservations are released. I like Cougar Rock best, because it’s near Paradise and it’s stunning views, but Ohanapacosh is also lovely, and has shady hikes with big waterfalls.

No dogs are allowed on trails anywhere in the park, only in campgrounds and parking lots, if that factors in.

oh poop, it does

bummer