Mount Rainer - August 4th

Upon reaching Ellensburg, I took Interstate 82 to Yakima and US 12. People have a tendency to rave about the "Going to the Sun" road in Glacier National Park, and it is indeed a magnificent feat of engineering. But I am always amazed when driving on nearly any highway that goes through mountains. How they determine the route and then make it happen, often heightening the existing beauty, is truly a marvel of engineering. US 12 is a beautiful stretch of highway once you get beyond the populated areas with portions of it equal to the "Going to the Sun" road. US 12 takes you to route 123 and to the southern entrance of Mount Rainier National Park.

First view of Mount Rainier (with as much zoom as I could get from the camera).

A short distance from the above overlook was this Alpine Meadow with a trail that goes around a small lake. It was an easy trail and a very pretty area.

Along the Alpine Meadow trail. Mount Rainier almost hidden by the clouds.

Route 123 ends at Cayuse Pass where it connects to route 410 which is the eastern entry route into the park. Above photo is of Mount Rainier and the White River, which is on a side road on the way to Sunrise Point and the Sunrise area (visitor center, lodge, trail access).

The view from Sunrise Point.

There are several trails from Sunrise Point. This is along the Sourdough Ridge Trail.

A sign that fall is upon us.

Sourdough Ridge Trail - I only went out about 30 minutes then turned around. This trail goes all the way to Sunrise (2.9 miles). Dege Peak, seen in the distance was 1.5 miles from the trailhead at Sunrise Point.

Emmons Glacier and the White River seen from Sunrise.

I had driven through White River campground in the park. There were some sites available but the parking areas were not even close to being reasonably flat. I decided to spend the night outside of the park, east on route 410, at one of the National Forest campgrounds just beyond Chinook Pass.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Mount Rainer - August 4th," Kinexxions, posted September 15, 2015 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2015/09/mount-rainer-august-4th.html : accessed [access date])