Saturday 31st July 2021

We camped for a week below Mount Rainier. A day visit to the East side of the park convinced us to keep away from the area as it was very crowded. It was time to test our hiking legs in the back country. This trail was only a bit over 8 miles but had over 3100 ft elevation gain.

The trail started out nicely. Lots of blooming bear grass. But then it got quite steep.

It was a brutal slog which took a long time as I am very slow going uphill. Thank goodness for the audio book we listened to with shared earbuds. It certainly helps with the drudge part of the hike. We finally entered the alpine meadows which were not quite in their prime yet. Still very lovely and the trail was now level. It was very nice hiking.

There were patches of Avalanche lilies to enjoy,

and gazillions of Common Blue butterflies. They were flying all around us and latched on to any source of water.

I am always happy when a close up actually comes out well. Thank goodness for digital pics. Delete is my most common tool used when editing.

Snowy Mount Rainier was a good backdrop for our hair.

We needed a day of rest so Dean did a little ebike maintenance. Living in a camper forces you to be inventive when it come to tools. This swing set worked pretty well.

We were ready to tackle another hike. This one involved a bit of snow crossing here and there.

Goat Lake was still frozen over.

Pink heather was flowering all over the place.

There were just a few Pasque flowers blooming. They look so delicate with fuzzy stems and petals.

Most of them had already bloomed but the flowers turn into these cool looking seed heads.

As we moved closer to Seattle it seemed like a good idea to have a bike ride. Close to the trail was Deans favorite brewery.

He really enjoyed this pint of Lush IPA served straight from the tap. They even had cider on tap. We took our own lunch and spent a pleasant hour.

Now we are moving up to the North Cascades area and hope to catch the flowers just right.