A friend of ours called us in August to ask us if we wanted to go hiking Labor Day weekend. He wanted to show us this great hike on Mt. Rainier, and we jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't want to hike on a volcano? Especially one that's not very likely to erupt. It was one of the best hikes I've been on, certainly the coolest. It was a 12 mile hike, but not terribly difficult so it took a long time without wearing you out too badly. We went with a big group, which ended up including another friend of ours. On our way up we hiked through beautiful forests, meadows, and we hiked on a couple glaciers! The area was just so beautiful, we were constantly astounded by the scenery. We saw various animals as we hiked including a bear! I've never seen a bear out in the wild before. This one was an adolescent, and we saw it as it came running down a glacier most likely frightened by all the hikers. It was so cool!
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| That's the distinctive peak of Rainier in the background |
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| Hiking across a glacier! |
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| Bear! Uh-oh where's the mom? |
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| Bear footprints in the snow |
Once we got to the top the view was incredible! We were really lucky that it was a clear day. You had to look carefully because it blends in with the clouds, but we could see all the way to Mt. Hood in Oregon. We ate lunch up there, took some group pictures, and watched a herd of mountain goats.
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| Mt. Adams and on the far right possibly part of Mt. Hood |
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The peak behind us looked like it wasn't too
much further, but it's another 7000 ft up! |
The hike back was nice. It wasn't too steep, but it still felt like we were going much faster. We stopped for dinner on the way back where everyone was a little sleepy-drunk since we were so tired and finally made it home. It was a long day, but so much fun!
