Yes, it's possible to reach Paradise on earth and, moreover, the journey matches the description. In short, the road to Paradise is very beautiful and exciting as it winds up from the Grove of the Patriarchs to the snow line beneath the towering mass of Mt Rainier.
Early in the journey we followed Stevens Canyon and you can see here a deep trench created by the Stevens Creek as melt-water tumbles down from the distant volcano amidst dense vegetation.
As we climbed upwards from Stevens Canyon, we had tantalising views of not just our target destination, Paradise itself, but also of a host of other snow-capped peaks.
Plunging slopes were festooned with dense vegetation of tall trees, but also bare patches where mud- or rock-slides had swept the vegetation away. This is a young landscape subject to immense volcanoc forces.
There are also many cascading waterfalls, though not as deep and fast-flowing as Stevens Creek.
And as we came closer to paradise several lakes came into view like these shown here. Louise Lake, not to be confused with its namesake in the Canadian Rockies was the first - and you can readily make out the bare rock face of the kind mentioned above.
And here's Reflection Lake which, in full summer reflects Mt Rainier beautifully. Alas, not today. The surface was caked with ice splitting up - hardly surprising with temperatures in the hight 20s (centigrade).
Dot and I pose for a photo with someone, or is it a robot, most readers will know!?
And shortly afterwards we reached Paradise, which lies close to the juncture between snow and forest just above my head in the last image. Isn't it wonderful how Mt. Rainier dominates this landscape. And Paradise is only 1647 m high (5400 feet), yet the top of the volcano is over 14,400 feet high, 9000 above Paradise itself. So that white cap is an immense piece of rock!
AS
Early in the journey we followed Stevens Canyon and you can see here a deep trench created by the Stevens Creek as melt-water tumbles down from the distant volcano amidst dense vegetation.
As we climbed upwards from Stevens Canyon, we had tantalising views of not just our target destination, Paradise itself, but also of a host of other snow-capped peaks.
There are also many cascading waterfalls, though not as deep and fast-flowing as Stevens Creek.
And as we came closer to paradise several lakes came into view like these shown here. Louise Lake, not to be confused with its namesake in the Canadian Rockies was the first - and you can readily make out the bare rock face of the kind mentioned above.
And here's Reflection Lake which, in full summer reflects Mt Rainier beautifully. Alas, not today. The surface was caked with ice splitting up - hardly surprising with temperatures in the hight 20s (centigrade).
Dot and I pose for a photo with someone, or is it a robot, most readers will know!?
And shortly afterwards we reached Paradise, which lies close to the juncture between snow and forest just above my head in the last image. Isn't it wonderful how Mt. Rainier dominates this landscape. And Paradise is only 1647 m high (5400 feet), yet the top of the volcano is over 14,400 feet high, 9000 above Paradise itself. So that white cap is an immense piece of rock!
AS
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