Mt Rainier

I have no memory of where we camped last night.  Oh yeah, we were at a private campground with the entire dry camping area (no water, sewer, electric) to ourselves.  Weekday (Sun-Thu) camping has been best for us, ample sites to choose and firewood to harvest from abandoned sites.  We saw bats while around our campfire last night and I heard coyotes early into the night.  Oddly in all our camping it was only the second time I recall hearing them.

46.53539,-121.77438

Target today was Mt Rainier and we camped not too far from it.  We arrived early to find the South West approach shrouded in clouds.  It seemed unlikely we would get a glimpse today.  We stopped and read some information at a kiosk and read of the rain shadow the mountain casts and how the opposite side got little rain.  We were off.  Sure enough as we came around the other side we were greeted by clearing skies and much better visibility.  But where was the mountain?  My navigator with his improving map skills correctly concluded it was behind us.  We kept looking over our shoulders at clearings until we found one that afforded us a great view.

 

Falls Creek near Rainier.

Still lots of snow!

I was hoping to camp another night on the Pacific so despite Tyler’s lack of interest I set a course for the coast.  When we got close to Tacoma we detoured North to visit my cousin Lee and her husband Mark.  We had a nice time talking about our trip and Tyler was tickled to meet their dog Chili.  Tyler was hoping to meet their boys but they were off enjoying their summer vacation.

Two weeks.  Two weeks and we have to be home.  I wrestled with our next target and I ultimately gave up on the coast and set a course for Yellowstone.  I want to see it midweek or not at all.  I suspect it will be crowded even then though.

There will be a few detours with our route as usual.  Never can be sure what we’ll find between here and there.  We rolled in to camping at Lake Kachess and found a nice site for $10. (47.35655,-121.24700)