Farewell to the mountains . . .

One thing I am really going to miss about Washington is the mountains - - most especially Mount Rainier. Several weeks ago, we decided we needed to take a couple of days to say farewell to our beloved peaks and took a night to go camping. We camped in the lush evergreen forest at the base of Mount Rainier- at Ohanepecosh campground at Mount Rainier National Park. Glorious doesn't even describe the scenery. Even though I didn't get much sleep, camping was really fun!


Mmmmm- Dirt! This was Tyler's favorite thing to do- put handfulls of WHATEVER he could get his hands on in his mouth!




We hiked a trail through a river gorge that had been flooded a few years back (the trail comes off of the campground at White River). Although it was a bit of crazy hiking because the trail had been wiped out- there was an alternate trail that the kids had so much fun following- climbing over boulders and through the stream bed - - after awhile I turned back with Lillian because it was getting a little to difficult for her. It was still such beautiful scenery!

Old Ranger cabin at the White River campground:


New river crossing after the flooding:







Part of the new trail they are building. The couldn't go very far on it because it is still being built!



We then went up to Sunrise to see that side of the mountain- - gorgeous as always!



The campfire program was fun, that night . . .



Breakfast- hot breakfast tastes the BEST when you are camping!


After packing up, we went on another hike for about 3 miles through the beautiful forest to Silver Falls.





Since we won't be back to this part of the country for a long time, we took a little detour to go see Mount Saint Helens. It was amazing to see the volcano up close again and realize the power of nature- and that it actually erupted in my lifetime!


Spirit Lake: It is amazing how much it changed after the eruption, you can also still see the dead trees that were blown off the mountain lining it's shores:


It is facinating to see the landscape at Mt. Saint Helens. It is surrounded by lush age old forest, but then when you enter the blast zone you still see the dead trees that were blown over by the blast- and the completely destroyed forest. Within that destroyed forest, you can also see pockets of new forest starting to grow- the cycle of life is amazing!

Destroyed forest:


New forest:


Me and Windy Ridge with the volcano in the background!