Rainier visit 2021

Rainier was tiring, and the view was bad, so the only thing that made it worth it was the berries. -Evie

But Mom disagrees. I think Saturday had gorgeous views - we picked a new-to-us hike to kick start the weekend and tried out the Snow and Bench Lake trail. It was actually only about 2.5 miles roundtrip, so really not that far at all! And, since this trail was off of the main peak, our views were OF the Mt Tahoma, which was very beautiful! Take a look! Btw, all of these are untouched photos! #nofilter!

Bench lake with Rainier in the background. The water was soooo still.

Snow lake is a filled with glacial water

There's 2 campsites you can backpack in to, and this is where we stopped to have a picnic lunch.

Pretty, right?

The fall colors were just beginning to showl.

Quick stop at Reflection Lake

That evening, we did a night hike and I tried to take pictures as the sun began to set.

We spent the night at the Paradise Lodge, which is the historic inn at the top of Paradise and was built in 1917. We stayed in one of the recently remodeled annex rooms, which was basic and comfortable. The downside was that the main dining room was closed due to COVID so folks were doing picnic dinners or setting up camping stoves outside to cook dinner. We were prepared and brought 2 instant pots and made rice and beef stew!

The next day, we started off earlish (9am?) to do the same Skyline Trail hike, which is a pretty fun but challenging hike that takes you to a view point before veering up to basecamp for those who want to scale the peak. We've done it before with the kids so don't know why there was so much whining about it this time around but it certainly didn't help that it was gray and gloomy so no views to speak of. The saving grace were all the yummy wild blueberry and huckleberries that we found on the trail.

The weather cleared up a bit by the time we hit the peak and the kids moods brightened so the way down was super fast and easy. It was a fun weekend, one that we always look forward to. Next time though, I want to try other hikes around the park!