Mt. Rainier...Here i come again..

        Mt. Rainier is one of the most beautiful , majestic and gracious mountain of the North west. It is one of my favorite things in Seattle and never get bored of seeing it everyday.

          This weekend it turned out to be the right time to visit Mt. Rainier National park to , first see my favorite destination and second the colorful wild flowers painting the meadows like bright colors on a green canvas. Our plan was to hike along the Sunrise Rim loop trail at the Sunrise point Visitor center. This was supposed to be the lesser known place compared to the Paradise view point which most visitors seem to enjoy.

           I was more excited since i had visited the same place exactly one year before but on a different trail. It was so enchanting and amazing views that i wanted to see this place again this year. It felt so familiar as though being among friends. Also, i was intending to capture the moments by photographing the wild flowers, Mt. Rainier etc. It turned out that there are many unknown/ untamed wilderness still around which adds more to the beauty of the scenery.

             We reached around noon after trailing behind a bee line of cars waiting for parking spot. It was a bit of a drive for us to reach this destination. The forecast was that it would rain in the noon. Luckily, it turned out to be just the way i like. Not too hot and scattered with fluffy clouds all around the blue sky with meadows lush green and patch of White of Mt.Rainier snow covered tip and Mt. Fremont beside.

              As we started the hike, I was prepared for an easy hike with lot of photography to do. But the trail we took was Sunrise Rim Loop trail which was a moderate level  which means it would be more elevation and tiring. However i had not explored that loop last year so it must have some new views..so we started off on the trail. Inspite of being not so popular, somehow this weekend lot of folks happened to come here and it was crowded all along.

            The trail was curved along rocky patches with wide open areas with no vegetation like a bland patch of land amidst the forests. Slowly the path was gaining elevation. At one of the view point, the cascading mountains were just beautiful stretching across miles and miles away. The drifting clouds were casting shadows along the flat land below like patch work.

                 As we walked the path, it led us towards the Frozen Lake, which luckily was unfrozen and filled with water. The only proof being that it still was lined with dense snow patch along the border of the lake still exposing the turquoise grains amidst the snow  reflecting the perfect blue sky. It was beautiful to watch...the lake with mountains overlooking it. 

It looked like the terrain of Iceland, which i have in my bucket list of places to visit:). There  was a trail leading to view the Mt. Fremont. But we were heading higher up as part of the sunrise rim.

                At this point, we thought of splitting up as me and one other friend wanted to explore more if meadows and not glacier view points. So our group split in two groups. One group headed upwards towards the rim..and we headed back following the trail to sunrise camp. All along, the scenery changed from no vegetation to lush meadows with different varieties of wild flowers. Also there were tiny streams some which were dried up due to the heat. The path in itself was so mesmerizing that i was enjoying every turn we take. 

                Twist in the story is that we had to reach the Sunrise Visitor Center point and not Camp grounds:). So, we were kinda lost our way. We checked with other hikers who turned out to be same like us... trying to find their way back:). We somehow found the trail and hiked back. Along the path we got to see some unexpected points. There were a couple of beautiful lakes that came into view. One was so emerald green and clear that it was reflecting the color of the pine trees and lush greenery surrounding it.

                The other one was known as Shadow lake reflecting the shadows of the forest . It was so calming and beautiful. We had to cross over small bridges as we walked to the lakes. At one of the views, it was as though the meadows were leading up further and opening up like open arms filled with water.  All along the bright and colorful wild flowers were sprayed randomly.

                   Losing the way was like a blessing in disguise as we walked back along new unexplored paths , thin trails with meadows covering on both side with flowers, buzzing bees, sloping valley below and new breathtaking views of Rainier. It was adventurous in a way.

                 The path along the valley was vibrant with flowers leading to a steep downhill where we could see the pathways created by melting glaciers leading to an emerald lake far below. There were also pathways leading upwards towards the tip of Rainier as though it was inviting us to venture there. Mist and clouds were slowly covering the  surrounding.

                       At one point i just stopped for few mins to relish every bit of the view as i saw Rainier amidst the clouds making it more magical. It felt like walking towards unknown destination waiting for me at the top. It made me feel relaxed , filling me with pure joy and calmness forgetting all the happenings around. We worry too much about many things and forget to enjoy the beautiful things we have around us. We should live in the present and enjoy the moments. These breathtaking moments are the ones that makes it worthwhile.

                Finally, we reached the visitor center but could'nt spot our friends. They seem to have reached half an hour  ahead of us. After another round of scouting, we found our friends. We were all so famished by then , we had our lunch at one of the picnic tables.

                The adventure does not end here:). 

              We got a perfect spot for lunch. It had a clear direct view of the mountain tip from where i sat. We were having our lunch, by then we could hear thunder nearby and grey clouds were fast gathering around. Even before we finished lunch, it started to drizzle. The whole area was fragrant with the scent of soil as raindrops fell on the ground.  I really love that smell. We continued to have lunch in the rain. As we were trying to finish up it started to rain bigger drops and slowly into hail. I had hail stones on my plate. Can you believe, it was raining hail stones in couple of mins and heavily. 

               We just cleared our table and ran like crazy little kids. Instead of taking shelter closeby, we were running to our car which was parked quite a bit away. It was like tiny stones showered on us from far above. It does hurt if it falls directly as it falls with force. It was real fun to run in the hail though:). It was a perfect ending to an amazing hike. Once we got into the car, we we were all laughing for few mins before we could realize what happened. We were one crazy bunch not to have waited like others. But they missed the fun of it all:).

              On the whole, a trip that started not so exciting ended up being so beautiful and perfect. Everyone got to see what they wanted and ended in awesome fun.

Life is short, so live it fully every moment.

                                                                     - Nirmala