9 trail miles
2000+ feet elevation gain
A day with 1 good friend
1 stunning volcano
many huckleberries in my tummy
1 mosquito
1 gorgeous bear taking a swim
We had boots on trail by 7am at Mowich Lake / Mt. Rainier, headed toward Spray Park. It made for an early morning wake up, but even by 7am it was starting to get crowded out there. We stopped at the Eagle’s Viewpoint for our first view of Tahoma and loved watching the lenticular clouds swirling down the north slope.
Spray Park is a series of meadows, almost like terraces, with wide open spaces separated by trees and more elevation gain between each one. It’s such a beautiful area, and the view of the Mountain (a.k.a. still an active volcano) shifts and changes with each tier. This place is usually a riot of wildflowers, AND an open buffet for swarms of mosquitoes. Almost all flowers were done blooming, but there were thousands of gentians filling the meadows with their wonderful blue color. Even better than that, I only saw one mosquito. We were able to sample several types of wild huckleberries as well, amazing little bursts of flavor!
After reaching the top meadow, we had lunch overlooking Mist Park and the Carbon River Valley, to the left was Mother Mountain, behind us was Tahoma itself. After lunch, a little bit further up we finished with beautiful close-up views before the trial starts dropping down toward Cataract Valley.
On our way back down we heard reports of a bear near the trail, but never saw it. By the lowest meadow, we heard more reports of another bear. We came to a small pond and were rewarded with being able to watch a beautiful bear graze for berries, then dip into the pond and go for a relaxing swim. I’ve seen many bears over the years, but this was by far the best experience I’ve had watching them. As soon as it came out of the pond and turned toward us, that was our cue to leave quickly.
What a wonderful day. I never want to take for granted the amazing area that I live in, and the fact that after so many orthopedic problems over 40 years I’ve still been able to put in the work and yoga needed so that I can continue to get outside and experience these things first hand.
Days like this make my heart feel like bursting from goodness. Gratitude for Mother Nature and even though my body is defective, gratitude that I can still do what I love to do.