At Sunrise for the Sunrise: Road Trip to Mount Rainier

Sunrise at Sunrise, Mount Rainier National Park

We continued our exploration of national parks with a road trip to Mount Rainier.  We had to hit the road at 4:30 a.m. in order to arrive at Sunrise for the sunrise at 6:50 a.m.  Our timing was perfect, and we pulled into the Sunrise viewpoint with two minutes to spare!

Sunrise at Sunrise

View of Mount Adams in the distance

We breakfasted with a picnic in the brisk, clear air — hard-boiled eggs, small tomatoes, pre-cooked bacon, cheese slices, rice crackers, mango juice.  Snow-capped Mount Rainier loomed over our picnic table.  Then we drove to the Naches Peak Loop Trailhead where we stepped out for an early morning hike.

“I could walk forever with beauty.  Our steps are not measured in miles but in the amount of time we are pulled forward by awe.”
— Terry Tempest Williams, The Hour of Land

Here are some photos from the trail:

Reflection of Mount Rainier in Tipsoo Lake

Dewey Lake in the distance

And finally, we ended our visit to Mount Rainier with a gondola ride up Crystal Mountain where we had lunch at the Summit Restaurant.  We sat on the outside patio in the blazing sun so that we could enjoy the view.

Summit of Crystal Mountain

Gray jays

Mount Rainier from the Summit Restaurant at Crystal Mountain

Our visit to Mount Rainier National Park was about as perfect as we could have wished.

 

 

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A Cathedral of Anticipation

Watching the sunrise at Sunrise Point, Mount Rainier

“But a summer morning when the sky first glows is a cathedral of anticipation.”
— Verlyn Klinkenborg, The Rural Life

Cascade Mountains from Sunrise

Cascading Cascade Mountains at dawn near Sunrise, Mount Rainier

Early morning departure.  Driving in the dark.  Arriving at Sunrise Point on Mount Rainier just in time to watch the sun rise over the Cascade Mountains.  Clear skies at dawn.  It’s worth sacrificing sleep to experience this glory even without the drama of illuminated clouds.

Tree Walk at Seward Park

Seward Park, Seattle

“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.”
— Karle Wilson Baker, from 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts by R. J. Palacio

Earlier this summer when I walked the perimeter of Seattle, I passed by Seward Park without taking the time to explore it.  So I returned on Friday to see what this popular city park was all about and to walk the 2+ mile road edging the “peninsula” that juts into Lake Washington.  The city of Seattle has published a “Tree Walk at Seward Park,” and with this printout I set out to identify some of the magnificent trees in the park.  Let me take you along on my jaunt through Seward Park.

View of Mount Rainier across lake Washington from Seward Park

Row of Bolleana Poplars along the parking lot

Leaves of the Bolleana Poplar

Garry Oak

Leaves of Garry Oak

Spider web

Madrona bark. According to the city brochure, “Seward Park is home to Seattle’s largest collection of Madrona trees.

Another Madrona with peeling bark. Madronas are native to the Pacific Northwest.

Most of the trees in Seward Park are native Douglas Fir trees.

The cones of the Douglas Fir have dragon-tongue-like protrusions jutting out from the cone bracts.

Sketch of Douglas Fir cone

Leaves and acorns from Northern Red Oak

Threadleaf Falsecypress

Traffic circle at Seward Park

Blue Atlas Cedar

The clusters of the Blue Atlas Cedar look like spiky beads on a bracelet

Coastal Redwoods

Leaf litter beneath the Coastal Redwoods

Port Orford Cedar

Trail through the trees, Seward Park

 

Off Trail

National Poetry Month. 28

Hiker dwarfed by Mount Rainier

Off the Trail
by Gary Snyder

We are free to find our own way
Over rocks — through the trees —
Where there are no trails.  The ridge and the forest
Present themselves to our eyes and feet
Which decide for themselves
In their old learned wisdom of doing
Where the wild will take us.  We have
Been here before.  It’s more intimate somehow
Than walking the paths that lay out some route
That you stick to.
All paths are possible, many will work,
Being blocked is its own kind of pleasure,
Getting through is a joy, the side-trips
And detours show down logs and flowers.
The deer paths straight up, the squirrel tracks
Across, the outcroppings lead us on over.
Resting on treetrunks,
Stepping out on the bedrock, angling and eyeing
Both making choices — now parting our ways —
And later rejoin: I’m right, you’re right,
We come out together.  Mattake, “Pine Mushroom,”
Heaves at the base of a stump.  The dense matted floor
Of Red Fir needles and twigs.  This is wild!
We laugh, wild for sure,
Because no place is more than another,
All places total,
And our ankles, knees, shoulders &
Haunches know right where they are.
Recall how the Dao De
Jing puts it:  the trail’s not the way.
No path will get you there, we’re off the trail,
You and I, and we chose it!  Our trips out of doors
Through the years have been practice
For this ramble together,
Deep in the mountains
Side by side,
Over the rocks, through the trees.

 

The Wildflowers of Mount Rainier

Wildflowers in the alpine meadows at Sunrise, Mount Rainier

It was early in the season for hiking at Mount Rainier — the trails were still covered with snow patches — but the wildflowers were in bloom.  That spectacle alone made the day trip worth while.  Enjoy!

Magenta Indian Paintbrush dotted the ditches along the road to Sunrise

Western anemones

Lupines

Bear grass

I think these are yellow avalanche lilies

Avalanche lilies. They simply carpeted the forest floor along a trail near Tipsoo Lake.

Avalanche lilies (sometimes I can salvage a blurry photo by editing it using a posterized effect)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Views of Mount Rainier

View of Mount Rainier from the terrace of the Summit House Restaurant at Crystal Mountain Resort

This post calls to mind Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, his series of woodblock prints.  Mount Rainier has a similar pull on artists.  For example, Tacoma woodblock artist, Chandler O’Leary, created her own limited edition fine art book with views of Mount Rainier — it’s called Local Conditions.

On a recent clear summer day, I took my niece on a drive to Mount Rainier.  The air was calm and clear, so our views of Mount Rainier were spectacular.  We enjoyed the golden glow of the peak at sunrise at Sunrise, distant views from the road, reflected views in Tipsoo Lake, and a high view from the Summit House Restaurant at Crystal Mountain Resort (accessible by gondola ride).  I had also just seen a high altitude view from my airplane window when I was returning from Minnesota.  Let me share these views of Mount Rainier here:

Floating in the clouds, Mount Rainier from an airplane window

Gold-tinted mountain at sunrise from Sunrise Point, Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier with alpine flowers, Sunrise

View of Mount Rainier with White River from Crystal Mountain Resort

Mount Rainier reflected in Tipsoo Lake

“The mountains are playing at standing on their heads, and their reflections are even lovelier than the reality.  The water’s depth and mystery impart vibrancy to the images, and the trembling of the surface conjures visions at the edge of a dream.”
— Sylvain Tesson, The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close Encounter with a Gray Jay

Gray Jay along the Naches Peak Loop Trail

The gray jays along the Naches Peak Loop Trail were seemingly undaunted by hikers on the trail.  A couple settled within a yard of me, perched in nearby trees.  Lucky I had my camera already in my hand — chance favors the prepared mind!  Gray jays have been getting too friendly, and Mount Rainier National Park has a “Keep Wildlife Wild” program to address the issue.

Gray Jay

Gray Jay perched on fir

Watercolor sketch of gray jay