I BELIEVE

Rendevouz with Mt. Rainier..

                 Mount Rainer is  iconic of Seattle as the largest mountain and Volcano of the Cascading mountains that outlines Seattle. Inspite of living here for some time, I had not set my foot on this mountain which I have admired every moment of my stay. This weekend I just took a day trip to Mt. Rainier with the NorthWest tours. I went on to explore it on my own.

                  It was 5^th Aug 2017, a day in mid-summer which was just getting cleared up from the smoky days we were having this week due to wild fire drifting from Canada.I was so excited that could’nt sleep the previous night as I wanted to be on time for this tour which was to start at around 7.10 am pickup from Grand Hyatt in Seattle Downtown. I had to start quite early to make it which was in itself a different experience:).

                  I was able to arrive well ahead the time and was able to get my Good Morning Mocha from Ladro. As I was waiting for the pickup bus, there were a couple from Texas who were on the same trip. We started off our conversation and soon enough we got into our bus with other fellow members.

                  We started our journey to Sunrise point, which is the view of Mt. Rainier from the east which is said to be the clearest compared to the more popular and crowded Paradise point view on a saturday. We went past Seatac airport to make a first stop at Enumclaw to get our lunch and other stuff to be prepared for the day ahead.

                       Our driver cum guide for the tour was a documentary film maker who knew his geology well and had done his homework. He was able to answer any question we had about Seattle, Mt. Rainier and surrounding. I came to know that Mt. Rainier was an active volcano and 5,600 years ago there was an eruption and Enumclaw was the highest point of Mount Rainier at that time. So in a way it was good to know that I got a chance to see the place which had some historical evidence that life finds its way.

                   Mt. Rainier has a different kind of lava ‘Lahar’ which is not like the red hot molten core as other places. This has more of a very hot and wet cement kind of flow which slides down to make all the different formations. The guide also gave us an overview of the latest eruption that happened in St. Helens and how it affected inspite of being prepared. It was told to be part of the same plate like the Andes mountains in South America.

                   As we moved forward, we entered the Mt. Rainier National Park at around 10.30 AM. We had to drive further ahead along the winding roads to a higher altitude to reach Sunrise Visitor Center.We drove for around 45 mins with every turn opening up the beautiful landscape and the mountain ranges like a pop out post card.  The view was breathtaking but hazy as the smoke was still clearing out and weather was starting to get warmer as the day progressed.

                   We went past the ‘White river’ where the river water was indeed white with the glacial flour formed by the melting glacier rubbing against the rocks beneath. Soon enough we also saw the ‘Green river’ which had the color of water as emerald green which was sourced by the rain water and other means. There was a point of convergence along the way where I could indeed see the White-Green combo flowing side by side and yet so distinct from each other. It was amazing.

                      Soon enough, we arrived at the Sunrise visitor center and we were informed that we were supposedly go on a hike to explore the scenic beauty of the place which was a surprise to me and a pleasant one at that as I do like hiking. As I had gone alone on this venture, I partnered up with another fellow passenger who was new to Seattle and was exploring the place too. She was from Texas and was having a different experience of weather, place, people infact everything.

                   We were given the trail maps with the choices and a time limit of 2 hrs to explore and be back for pick up.  Although I wanted to take the moderate level trail, due to time limitation and unpreparedness we choose to take the Silverforest trail which was around 1.5 hours and planned to see Shadow lake in case we had time.

              As I lay my sight on the whole landscape, that’s when I realized how majestic and magnificent it was.

Mt. Rainier was beautiful from far but upclose it was much more than I had imagined and I found myself speechless at some points.

                  As we started the trail wild flowers were everywhere adding a burst of colors to the landscape. I felt just like I was reliving my time in the Swiss Alps which I used to explore in similar fashion. In fact my first trip in Zurich was a tour to Heidi house which was an awesome memorable trip and I was a lone traveler meeting up with new friends on the trip and exactly similar.

                       All along the trail the meadows were filled with wild flowers of all kinds swaying sweetly in the gentle breeze that blew occasionally. It was a treat to watch them.  With every bend the views were getting much better and breathtaking.

              To my great surprise I also saw the wild flowers which were just like the fluffy thing in Dr. Seuss Lorax:). I never thought it could be real.

                    We reached the Emmons Glacier view point which had the picture perfect view of Mt. Rainier with the jagged mountains, valleys, glaciers, jade green lake at the foot of the mountain.

                It was interesting when the guide informed us that people who aim to reach the summit of Mt. Everest do their practice over here since the conditions on Mt. Rainier summit is similar to Mt. Everest. This made me feel more close to home and thrilled to see such a place.

                 We walked along the supposedly simple trail, it was not as easy as we thought. The summer heat made it quite difficult to tread along, but it was worth the effort. The sloping meadows was filled with more varieties of alpine wild flowers and it was perfect time for us to visit it.

                     As we made our way back from Sunrise point, there were other places on the itinerary which I did not know. We made a stop at ‘White River’ view point. It’s a small river but with strong currents sourced by the melting glaciers from Mt. Rainier. We crossed over the bridge across the river with strong current and explored the place. I liked to see the various formations of silt across the river bed amidst the cold cold water. It was not really a deep river but the current was quite strong. The surrounding landscape was hazy yet beautiful.

                     After a brief stop, we headed further ahead to the Tipsoe lake. It’s a small lake which was so clear that i could see the bottom of it with all the rocks and tadpoles etc very clearly. The lake had the tinge of emerald green which was a perfect reflection of its surrounding meadows and just the way i like it!

                 This lake was surrounded by the peaks and meadows filled with a wide variety of wild flowers and pine trees. This was another place which made me nostalgic about Switzerland and i felt like the little girl Heidi among the Heidi Alps or Ebenalp. We just walked around the lake which took around 20 mins. 

                    We then headed back from this small yet beautiful lake to have a highly recommended locally made huckleberry ice-cream in one of the stores. All along I was enjoying the shades of light playing amidst the dense forests of pine trees all along the way. It was like patches of light barely making it to the ground amidst the tall firs. The pine trees were so tall and some of them so thick and wide that I can’t even hug them with both hands. As the bus rode down the winding roads it was like watching a screen of past memories flowing past of my ventures in Switzerland with my friends like Pizol, Ebenalp, Heidialp, Blausee which had similar scenery. It was like i was going through pages of book of life.

                  In addition to all this adventure, i happened to be seated beside an elderly gentleman who was visiting Seattle from Oklahoma with his wife. He had served in the army before and he was sharing his experiences of visiting different places and their place. He was interested in seeing that i I was on this tour to know more about the place inspite of living in Seattle for some time. He was sharing his experiences and how he explored places during his service days. He spoke to me like his kids and said ‘you keep exploring and learning kiddo!!’ which was very nice of him.

                 On the whole this trip had me in a trance and will always be remembered. Mt. Rainier is still one of those special places which i will never be bored of.

                I’m reminded of a quote from the movie Secret life of Walter Mitty ‘Beautiful things don’t ask for attention’. Mt. Rainier was beautiful, dangerous, majestic, huge yet it took all my attention and hope it will be so for years to come :).

Its sometimes best to just go by your instinct and take that ride to explore, meet new people, see new places coz only you know yourself better than anybody else.