Mt. Rainier

Tuesday

The rain had not yet begun when we woke up at 7:00 and we had another great view of the snow-capped Mt. Rainier out our window. We donned our backpacks and headed out to grab a bit of the forecast-to-be-awful day. We hiked about 4 miles of the Wonderland Trail, through Fir, hemlock, and cedar again. The aromas of the woods were almost the best part. But the amazing numbers of fallen trees were also surprising. They must take forever to rot because there were tree trunks all around us that were so big that three people could not have hugged them finger-tip to finger-tip. It showered enough that we wore our raingear, but not enough that the rain dribbled onto our pant legs. A fantastic morning outing.

While I was doing laundry…the Inn had free washers and dryers for guests…an employee came in to do his wash. Jason is working here for 4 months to help fund his university tuition in Jamaica. He bought The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses! I was fun to sign his copy and tell him to tell his mother for me that she’d taught him well how to do his own laundry.

The rain finally came in heavily. It has been a steady downpour since noon. People have been filtering in who are hiking the long trails. They are eager to not spend the night in tents. Wet backpacks are everywhere. People are sharing rooms with strangers to avoid the night outdoors. Having shared bathrooms and showers seems not even a hardship compared to their arrangements!

Wednesday we headed for the Olympic National Park. We'll report on that next.