Majestic Mountain - Part 1

At 6:50 AM on Saturday morning it was decided.  Camping at Mt. Rainier was the consensus and we had precious little time to get the packing underway.  With weather forecasted to be in the 80s and clear, we anticipated we would not be the only ones with the same idea!

By 9 AM we were in a loaded car and on the way to run a couple of errands: Safeway for some apples, deli meat, string cheese and Smores makings, Subway for our lunch and REI for some last minute camping necessities including dehydrated food packs, a footprint for our new 2-person tent, a topographical map of East Mt. Rainier and an America the Beautiful National Parks pass, one that we can use for a year at any National parks in the US.  For those readers who happen to be 62 or older please know that you can get a lifetime pass for $10 (trust us, this is a steal!) so take advantage of it if you are out visiting the National Parks and Forests throughout the US.

Entrance to the National Park

We pulled into the White River entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, located on the northeast corner, at 11:50 AM.  Following a 30-minute wait at the gate, we were setting up camp and enjoying our Sub sandwiches in a very crowded White River Campground.

Our new, 2-person tent from REI.

Following lunch we changed into our hiking boots and decided that we would hike to the Sunrise Point and Sunrise Visitor’s Center instead of making the 10-mile drive.  According to our new map this appeared to be about a 3 mile hike (one way) with nearly 2200’ gain in elevation taking place in the first 2.5 miles.  Having recently hiked Mt. Si (stay tuned for a future post) where we gained 4000’ of elevation in 4 miles, the challenge in front of us seemed manageable.  The trail started out steep, very honest about what we’d be experiencing for a while.  We took lots of breathers and enjoyed the surrounding scenery.

A rock field that was tempting us to climb.

Look closely and you'll see two birds just chillin'.

Nathan ahead of me on the trail.

Then Nathan’s boots began to rub on his heels.  He experienced something similar during our Mt. Si hike as he was breaking in his new shoes and we didn’t do anything about it in preparation for this trip.  He stopped to put on band-aids and as we continued on the band-aids began to slip.  We stopped again to change up the heel protection and had a couple of down-hillers pass by.  An hour into our trek and I was anxious to get a report on our progress (signs were minimal) so I asked one of the passing hikers.  Checking his altimeter, he claimed that we were at 5300’ with 1000’ to go.

Changing the bandages.

Back on the trail, Nathan make a gallant effort to forge ahead, noticeably favoring his heels as he made very careful and deliberate steps but it didn’t take long before we came to the conclusion to turn around.  Good decision.  It is no fun to walk on blistered feet.  Besides, by the time we had returned to camp we’d been gone for two hours, plenty of good exercise for the day. 

We climbed into the car and decided to make the 10-mile drive to Sunrise Point and check out the views the easier way.

Glorious.  Majestic.  Pictures don't do it justice!

Another view from Sunrise Point.

Following our picture taking at Sunrise, we returned to camp for dinner.  The mission of this trip was to be minimalist and we intended to expedite our departure so we depended on dehydrated food packs from REI.

Dinner - yum!

Packing camp food, necessary preparation supplies and anticipating the required clean up in less-than-sanitary conditions is enough to ruin the experience for me.  Dehydrated food is the way to go!  May be more expensive but SO easy!  And actually pretty yummy.  While boiling the water for my meal (the Mexican Style Rice and Chicken) I noticed that it was a 2-serving pack.  Somehow I convinced Nathan to share it with me, saving the Spaghetti and Meatballs for another trip.  We added an individual Colby Jack cheese stick to it making it stringy and cheesy!

Following dinner it was time to build the fire.  As author of this blog it is with excitement that I get to share this little bit of information with the readers.  Below you’ll find a picture of my love starting our fire.

Focus.

While it looks promising in this photo, let it be known that 6-months in Cub Scouts did not pay off quite the same as 3-4 years in Brownie’s and Girl Scouts!  I had to help Nathan’s efforts when the little bit of a flame that you see above lost its oxygen.  I rebuilt the pile of kindling and got a nice flame going before I added the larger logs.  Due to our combined efforts through the evening, we enjoyed nearly 3 hours of warmth and light from our camp fire.

And let us not forget one of the most important icons of camping, the S’more!  We rocked the S’mores for dessert!

Perfectly roasted 'mallow.

Happy Campers!

By 9 PM the full moon was working its way through the treetops and the surrounding camps were quieting down.  A full day came to a conclusion and we put out the remaining flames in our fire pit.