Last night we drove until the small hours and when we arrived at Mount Rainier NP the entrance gate was closed. We parked the car outside the gate and resorted to sleeping in the car. Although it's not a typical campsite, I took a picture of it anyway. If you zoom in you can even see our friendly campsite visitor grazing above us.
And also me looking extra creepy in the window...
Almost immediately inside the gate we were being rewarded for our uncomfortable sleep!
We stopped at National Park Inn for a bite to eat while we waited for the museum to open. The park ranger in the museum warned us that all vehicles were mandated to carry tire chains and to turn around if it started snowing while traveling inside the park. Luckily, we had a set of chains with us. Sadly, we were also told that the only road that goes all the way through the park was still closed for the winter season. We decided to drive the road as far as we could and hoped to find a trail along the way to hike.
Along the drive there were many more beautiful sights to see including a pretty tall waterfall, a freshly dusted winter wonderland, and a great shot of the mountain!
Along the drive there were many more beautiful sights to see including a pretty tall waterfall, a freshly dusted winter wonderland, and a great shot of the mountain!
The road was closed at Paradise Inn and it was then we realized we underestimated just how much it was still "winter season". Although there were trails around that area, snowshoes were a must so we couldn't do any exploring there. Instead, we turned around and decided to hike to Comet Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in the park at 320 feet, Comet Falls was named because it resembles the tail of a comet.
The beginning of the trail had some cascades and smaller waterfalls snaking through the beautiful green forest.
The beginning of the trail had some cascades and smaller waterfalls snaking through the beautiful green forest.
After about 15 minutes the trail gradually became more and more covered with snow.
The hike out to Comet Falls was 1.8 miles and we made it about 1 mile in before the snow became so deep that we had to turn around. Not only were we not prepared in our tennis shoes and water permeable clothes, but it was also quite dangerous. If you look closely in the right picture you can see how the trail of our footsteps stops right at the edge of the trees. We didn't know how deep the snow actually was before we took each step or if a tree root was below. One wrong step could mean a rolled ankle or, even worse, a tumble down the side of the mountain. Look how vertical the mountain side is that we were hiking on! That's the river down below!
We took in our surroundings for a few minutes and then started to hike back out. After a few yards I turned around to enjoy the view once more, and all of a sudden the clouds broke and we caught a view of the mountain! It was awesome that it appeared just in time to say hello to us before we left!
On the way out we realized too late that we forgot to take our flag picture in front of the mountain so we settled for a spot next to Van Trump Creek.
Check out the rigging to get our picture this time! Lol
As we were picking up our stuff we ran into a couple more hikers, Kenzie and Zach, and started chatting about the park and the state for the rest of the trail. Once back at the parking lot they noticed our car and started asking more about our trip. Turns out they were also on a trip and were actually from Nashville. We all took a selfie and Kenzie gave me her number in case we needed anything when we made our way through Tennessee.
During our drive through the rest of Washington we stumbled upon a tulip farm that encouraged visitors to stop and take pictures. There had to be at least 250 rows of tulips!
We crossed into Oregon early evening, but we still had several driving hours ahead to get to our destination in southern Oregon. The shot through the dirty windshield didn't turn out too great, but the post sunset shot I got made up for it in my opinion.
We drove pretty late again tonight, but we were able to make it to a roadside rest area in Chemult which isn't too far from where we needed to be. Our plan for tomorrow is to visit Crater Lake NP and also the Umpqua Hot Springs. Until then I leave you with this cool capture of the moon.
Lesson of the Day: Oregon has full service pumps and it is actually illegal to pump your own gas!?!
Word of the Day: Befuddled
Word of the Day: Befuddled