Wednesday 4th September 2019
We managed to get a bit of good hiking on the back side of Mount Rainier National Park and were happy it was not crowded. A prior day trip to the main flower area on the other side of the park had been a dead loss. The flowers were mostly done and the trail was packed.

Mount Rainier still had quite a bit of snow.

Ahh! back to flowery goodness.

That’s more like it. The lupines were covering the hillsides and had such a delicate scent.

Another day we hiked in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. We never saw any goats but the flowers were prolific. That’s Mount Adams in the background.

As usual Dean found a comfy spot for his nap after the huge hike up the mountainside.

I love the Pasqueflower when it’s gone to seed.

We had just passed a fairly green area and thought the flowers were done but this lovely display was on the other side of the mountain.

The water was so pretty in this caldera.

My last view of the flower hillside. Such a great day.

Our campground had an abundance of blackberry bushes. They were delicious on our cereal and…

a few pounds made it into my jam jars.

Mount St. Helens is always a fun place to hike. Many parts are finally greening up after the massive volcano erupted and flattened the whole area in 1980.

The area around Spirit Lake still looks barren.

There was plenty of water flowing down the mountain from melting glaciers but the high pumice and ash content of the soil made it hard for any vegetation to get a foothold in this area.

Thank you Washington. We had a great time hiking in your lovely mountains. On to Oregon.