Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier turned out to have many different facets to its dazzling charm. Approaching the peak in the car, the forest reminded me a lot of the feel of Muir woods and the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains. Then, climbing to Mt. Fremont lookout, J and I rounded a bend to see a wooden building perched far away on the stone mountainside. At that moment, I felt like I had stepped into the movie "Himalayas" set in the Tibetan mountains. Especially because with the steep slope on one side and the loose stones underneath my feet, I feared I would meet the same fate as the fake yak that slid to its demise. I wish I had taken a picture at that point, but was concentrating too much on not slipping or looking down to want to stop and take photographs. If I had taken a photograph, it would have looked like this. Descending from the rocky slopes of the Mt. Fremont trail, we entered field after field of spectacular subalpine wildflowers which reminded me a bit of my visit to Tuolumne meadows in Yosemite during July, only much nicer. Such a small area of land really packs quite a punch with such varied and stunning scenery.

J said quite perceptively that it is challenging to accurately capture the feeling of being in a field of wildflowers because you can't easily simultaneously show in one photo the view of being close up to one flower and also the wave of flowers receding behind it.

So here is one of my favorite genuses of wildflowers, lupines. These are subalpine lupines.







Although I did see Clark's nutcrackers at the Sunrise visitor's center, sadly I did not see a gray jay or any ptarmigans. Nor did I see any mountain goats or marmots, but I did see this frightened chipmunk peering out at me from its perch in the pine:


Driving down off the mountain with J and I singing along to the Indigo Girls "Shaming of the Sun" I was exhausted but so content...

"I said come on down to Chicano city park wash your blues away the beautiful ladies walk right by You know I never know what to say They'll be singing oooh la la shame on you"

And we both think this line is particularly poetic:

"With every lesson learned a line upon your beautiful face."

Re-entering civilization, J got some caffeine to keep her awake for the long drive home. It was a pretty setting, but so strange after climbing Mt. Rainier's remote stone peaks. That's J, checking out the menu. The funniest part, that you can't see from the photo-- the woman serving us inside was wearing a bikini! Yes, it was that hot outside.



And finally, for a bit of feminist history since women's accomplishments are so often overlooked. While in the visitor's center, I picked up a postcard with this tidbit: the first woman to climb Mt. Rainier was Fay Fuller on August 10, 1890. She would not let anyone help her. After accomplishing her goal she said, "I have accomplished what I have always dreamed of and feared impossible." On the front of the postcard is a photo of Fay with her flannel skirt, bloomers, mittens and supplies wrapped in blankets around her waist. I think I will send it to my aunt N in Quincy as she is a fierce feminist and would enjoy the image and story.