One of the finest scenes in the whole of Washington State is Mt Rainier, soaring above the surrounding countryside to a great height (4,400 m; 14,500 feet). And its setting within the Cascade Range is equally impressive as we shall see. We left Kirkland last Friday for AirBNB accommodation in Packwood, which lies to the south of the mountain ... on the other side from Seattle itself. As the local climate in summer can be cool and wet, I agonised over what to wear, but all the forecasts suggest that it would be sunny and warm to hot, so I made do with shorts and singlet! That bit at least proved to be OK as the temperatures in Paradise soared above 30C and the sunshine as intense.
Getting to Packwood was a little boring to start with - congested free-ways and fairly flat farmland but we kept spirits up look for a white peak looming in the distance. That occurred shortly after Enumclaw, a small town whose name translates from the local Salish Native American language as "place of evil spirits" - not that we saw or felt anything of the kind. This is what we saw. Nice, eh?
As we headed into the Cascades, we drove for long upward sloping distance alongside fast-flowing streams full of melt-water from the surrounding snow-fields. Incidentally, on our return trip though Enumclaw I was told that the air temperature was > 40 C, over 100 F, so it was hardly surprising that the snow was disappearing fast! There were also lots f attractive waterfalls
And finally we reached the Mt Rainier National Park, with occasional view of the peak itself. However, other ridges, draped in dense forests of Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and other pines obscured it much of the time. We also kept our eyes open for Brown Bear (grizzlies) but none could be seen in the dense vegetation.
At last the road reached the snowline at c. 1700 m (5600 feet) before the long descent to the small community of Packwood, population a little over 1,000, and whose elevation is c. 320 m. This was our base for exploring the region.
We stayed in Elk Lodge and, strangely, one of the first images I have of Packwood is of wild elk grazing in parkland near the village's centre.
Elk Lodge was comfortable and homely, and the two kids had great fun exploring the bunk beds in their room. Across the road in front of us we could sight our quarry, Mt Rainier, in the distance, this time from the south side.
A novel system of fencing close to where we staying ... old skis!
The Cowlitz River in early morning sunlight - fast flowing and pretty.
AS
Getting to Packwood was a little boring to start with - congested free-ways and fairly flat farmland but we kept spirits up look for a white peak looming in the distance. That occurred shortly after Enumclaw, a small town whose name translates from the local Salish Native American language as "place of evil spirits" - not that we saw or felt anything of the kind. This is what we saw. Nice, eh?
As we headed into the Cascades, we drove for long upward sloping distance alongside fast-flowing streams full of melt-water from the surrounding snow-fields. Incidentally, on our return trip though Enumclaw I was told that the air temperature was > 40 C, over 100 F, so it was hardly surprising that the snow was disappearing fast! There were also lots f attractive waterfalls
And finally we reached the Mt Rainier National Park, with occasional view of the peak itself. However, other ridges, draped in dense forests of Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and other pines obscured it much of the time. We also kept our eyes open for Brown Bear (grizzlies) but none could be seen in the dense vegetation.
We stayed in Elk Lodge and, strangely, one of the first images I have of Packwood is of wild elk grazing in parkland near the village's centre.
Elk Lodge was comfortable and homely, and the two kids had great fun exploring the bunk beds in their room. Across the road in front of us we could sight our quarry, Mt Rainier, in the distance, this time from the south side.
A novel system of fencing close to where we staying ... old skis!
The Cowlitz River in early morning sunlight - fast flowing and pretty.
AS
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