Crumpet does Mt Rainier

Baby Crumpet took us to climb Mount Rainier.

It was our first time there and it was a spectacular blue sky day to go up on the mountain. We rented a cabin at nearby town Ashford, from there it's a just a short drive up to the Paradise visitor's center where we started hiking the trails. The majestic mountain lives up to its hype. What makes these trailers different than, say Baker, St Helens and Hurricane Ridge where we also hiked this summer is that when you're hiking Rainier you can see the mountain from just about every angle. It's like an inspirational beacon that keeps calling you. As a bonus are the meadows and wild flowers.

People watching was another sport all-together. The beginning trails being relatively flat, some parts even paved, drew a wide range of visitors. On one end of the extreme are the climbers with gears, some carrying snowboards, as they make their way up to base camp in the afternoon to get ready for the midnight summit ('cause ice is hardest; round-trip is about 7 - 8 hours). On the other end are mostly immigrants, some with baby strollers (!) and totally inappropriate shoes. Good time was had by all.

We had time to visit other areas in Rainier, especially loved the Longmire area with their old growth forest. We loved Rainier and can't wait to be back in the Fall when the trees change colors.