The weather here has been strangely dry. But when that happens on a weekend, with no rain (or snow in the mountains) in sight, I decided to make a quick dash to Mt. Rainier for some winter camping fun!
A HUGE thank you to Catherine for watching the kids!
After the mad parking lot nonsense (it took about 30 minutes of driving around before I lucked out and saw someone leaving), it was about a 90 minute hike up to Mazama Ridge. I picked a nice spot with nice views to the north of Mt. Rainier and to the south of the Tatoosh mountains. Sunset pretty much fizzled, without much excitement or color in the sky, but it was still very pretty.
Who says I can't pick a nice campsite?
Shortly after setting up my tent I got to watch a small avalanche way up on the flanks of Mt. Rainier. It was a long way off, so I wasn't in any danger. Plus I wasn't hiking/camping in an avalanche zone. I woke up pretty early, and since the stars were just amazing, I decided to snap some photos.
After a short nap, the sun came out and again, the sunrise fizzled without any great color. But like the sunset, it was still very pretty (just not photogenic).
Catherine surprised me when I got home with some books to read to help prepare me for my upcoming school year - so all in all it was a pretty good weekend for me. Hopefully it was nice for everyone, too.
Cheers,
Marc
