PACIFIC NORTHWEST – Mt. Rainier

As long I was in the neighborhood, I decided to go to Mt. Rainier — I mean, I couldn’t miss this chance. A friend had warned me that sometimes, because the area is often cloudy and the mountain is so high, well — sometimes you just can’t see it. So in the morning, I logged on to the Mt. Rainier website to see their webcams for what what the weather was like — and it looked pretty cloudy and grey, but I decided to go anyway.

   Online I’d read about the Gondolas at Crystal Mountain, and decided that would be much more fun than hiking up a mountain — so I headed to Crystal Mountain. It’s a beautiful drive through the Mt. Rainier National Park, and since I bought an Annual National Park Pass while roadtripping in December I was excited to get to use it again. Besides, I was driving through Big Foot Country — so I kept an eye open, just in case he was out for a stroll.

   The Gondola at Crystal Springs takes you up, over 2000 vertical feet — and the view from the summit is spectacular. The clouds around Mt. Rainier lightened up a bit just as I got there. As you walk to the Observation Deck, right there in front of you, Mt. Rainier — looming 14,410-feet tall. And to the left Silver King, Silver Queen, and Mt. St. Helen’s — and to the right the Olympic Mountains, a distant view of Seattle, Mt. Baker, and in the distance Glacier Peak. An incredible stunning view of them all, right at your feet. It had gone from gray skies to blue, but there are just a lot of clouds at the 7000-foot elevation where I was — yet still it was absolutely beautiful.

   I drove through the Mt. Rainier National Park to the Sunrise Visitor Center — which is the highest point that you can drive to in the park. And stopped at the Ranger Station there. It was 46-degrees and there was still snow on the ground — in July! And as I walked into the Old Lodge there, one of the Rangers was lighting a fire — in July!

   There are all sorts of trails in the area, so I walked along in the cool mountain air for a bit. I am a City Girl, born and raised — but it’s moments like this that reconnect me to something different, something bigger. This is definitely God’s Country — and largely untouched, so you really feel like you’re out in nature. There is something quite spiritual about places like this, so untouched by civilization — and such an amazing display of the handiwork of God, and definitely a testimony-booster.