Jenni stands before Washington's finest from the saddle of Eagle Peak
Mount Adams between the wood and chaff, another volcano, proudly faces towards Mt. Rainier
As we descend from Eagle saddle, we continue counting trees, a hobby of ours.
Mount Rainier National Park is busy. This is a problem during summer vacation periods. People might think
we’re complaining while hardworking people are holidaying after the working year ended. Not at all…well,
maybe a little. While we might be complaining, we’d also like to request cooler weather…but not too cool.
Where were we? After all, we are not vacationing but rather pursuing our vocation which is hard work.
Rather than whine, we prefer to leave the whining for work-days on the trail and resort to action now.
Seek the tough hikes and you’ll lose all but a handful of people. We did just that and had the trail
mostly to ourselves, nearly 8 miles with an elevation gain of 3,100 feet. That’s a lot of feet but few bodies
on a trail.
More prominent than Mount St. Helens.
A little weary after 3,100 feet elevation gain but worth more than the great view.
We are pleased that Ron, a newly retired teacher, met us at the peak. We enjoyed conversation with him
and learned of his hip replacement. There seems to be a lot of that going around. He now intends to climb
every mountain in the state and of course, others too. Ron is obviously looking forward to a long retirement
period—good luck to him. He is a bright young man who shared his views on the state of children and
their behavior. His views coincided with ours—we mentioned he is very smart. We remember our parents' words
and how they worried about the state of the world when we were kids—perhaps, it’s only a generational issue,
although we have our doubts.
Enjoying some spectacular views besides the 'White Lady'.
Tucked away behind the Eagle, Rainier dominates the surround.
Yesterday, we met Mike and Phyllis from Atlanta, Delta Airline's territory where he works or flies. Mike
relayed stories of his hiking experiences which we enjoyed hearing. It must be something on the mountains.
Most people we converse with are pleasant and in many cases, a real treat with whom to swop stories.
In fact, on today’s hike, we were lucky to meet two young women who provided us with a few pointers for
the tricky part over the snow-covered trail that lay ahead. Without their suggestion, we might still be
somewhere on the Eagle, but without wings.
A good path, pretty steep as we head back into snow.
The hike commenced at a well-hidden trailhead. Only after asking two government employees surveying the
area did we find out that the trailhead was ten feet to our right—we still could not find it. Fortunately,
the employees were between morning tea break and lunch, so they had time available to point us in the correct
direction. Hmm! We notice we are showing a little attitude today. We don’t know why that’s the case as we are
feeling in good spirits while enjoying the hiking and sights immensely. It might be the heat although at
altitude, it's quite cool. Perhaps we’ll take two aspirin tonight and if not better in the morning, we’ll
call a therapist. Don’t you love the modern world?
Something different: The color and purity of the water is enviable
A solo of Rainier with cloud belt forming around its rather large belly.
The hike was one relentless move uphill. After three miles and a breakfast next to a brook, we lost the
trail as it was snow-covered. It took some careful plotting and tricky foot-placements to remain on our
feet. As we got higher and broke the tree line, we lost the snow but acquired a much steeper slope.
Finally, views of the major mountain ranges appeared with the climax of seeing Mount Rainier just a hop,
skip and jump away. Following our talk with Ron, we headed down in what seemed a never-ending walk. To keep
the mind occupied, we continued our hobby of counting the trees of Oregon and Washington. So far, the tally
is a little under four billion.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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