Mt. Rainier

Joshua and his family have gone back to Alaska.  They were in Washington for about 2 months.  We had one full day before they left when we made a trip up to Mt. Rainier.

 Julia in front of Mt. Rainier.  The weather was perfect, lots of sunshine and great visibility.

First stop was Cougar Rock campground for an opportunity to climb on the big trees and have a picnic lunch.  Ethan and Christian on a fallen tree trunk.

 All these trees had fallen in a big jumble making all kinds of log bridges and fallen tree trunks to climb on.

 Christian on one tree trunk climbing up to another.

 Julia and Jacquelyn on a fallen tree.

 Joshua and Elliott following Ethan from one fallen tree to a smaller one.

 Christian walking a fallen tree trunk.

 After our picnic lunch we took a 1.1 mile hike on a trail into the mountain woods.

 We saw some beautiful scenery.

 Christian taking a break under a tree.

 Ethan and Elliott on a boulder.

 It was not an easy hike for little children and got steep after a while, but was only 1.1 miles and we made it.  The reward was the overlook of a beautiful mountain waterfall.  Julia and Ethan.

 Then we went and saw Narada Falls and then went to the visitor's center at Paradise.  We took a short walk around the area.

 We saw beautiful alpine meadows.

We even found a little snow still on the ground in some isolated places.  It was a fun day.