Nothing But Fog

On Thursday Joe, Denise, and I went into Mt. Rainier National Park. It is about an hour's drive from our campground. 

Entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park

We saw a lot of beautiful scenery on the way there and throughout the park. 

Our first stop was at the Paradise Visitors' Center. Denise and I took a short hike (up a steep path) to Myrtle Falls.

Myrtle Falls

In the visitors' center, we learned that the weather is unpredictable. Mt. Rainier is so humongous that it actually creates its on weather. The clouds and fog move inland from the Pacific Ocean and they slam into the mountain. Extremes in the weather are the rule here in the Mt. Rainier micro climate. You can incur raging winds, sudden downpours, and in the winter, blazing snow. 

Because Mt. Rainier is a volcano, there is a hot layer of magma underneath the mountain. The magma creates steam and it is not unusual to see some of this steam escaping at the summit, even during the winter when the mountain is snow covered. For that reason, this is sometimes called the land of fire and ice. 

Magma under the mountain

Rainier is so enormous that they say that there are high mountains, and then there's Rainier. It is in a class of its own. Like Crater Lake, which I had mentioned should have its own color, Crater Lake Blue, Mt. Rainier should have its own adjective, such as - Mount Rainier big. Of course, there would never be need to use this adjective, since nothing else is that big.

We continued driving through the park with more beautiful scenery along the way. There were thick forests of thin evergreens, alpine meadows with colorful wildflowers, and lakes, creeks, and rock-filled streams. 

For most of the drive, it was very foggy and we were concerned that we would not be able to see Mt. Rainier due to the fog. We were hoping that as the day went on the fog would burn away. 

Shortly after we left Mt. Rainier National Park, we went to Crystal Mountain where there are supposed to be incredible views of Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Range. We took a gondola up to the top of the mountain. 

We went to a restaurant on top of the mountain. The restaurant is at 6872 feet elevation. It was quite cold at the top of the mountain, and we were bundled up in jeans, sweatshirts, and jackets. We ordered coffee, hot chocolate, and hot soup in the restaurant, and unfortunately as we were eating soup, we were also looking out the windows at the pea soup fog. All our hopes that the fog would clear were dashed. As we were on top of the mountain, knowing that beautiful views were in front of us, all we could see was thick fog. 

Restaurant at the top of Crystal Mountain

There was a diorama of the mountain chain and the different mountains, showing each of the peaks and which particular mountain each one was. It was disheartening to look out knowing that in clear weather, there would be indescribably beautiful scenery in front of us, yet today, nothing but fog. When you travel in this area, that's the chance you take. We gave it a shot; it didn't work out. At least the views on the way up and down on the gondola ride, beneath the fog layer, were nice. 

We drove back to our campground with more nice scenery along the way.

One more thing I'd like to note that we've been enjoying about the Seattle area: everyone is very friendly here. In all our interactions with the local people, we've noticed extreme friendliness. It makes for a nice visit to the area.