Mt. Rainier National Park

Our Hike at Mt. Rainier :(

Frankly, the picture above (and some more below) is the very reason why I am not that very excited to post yet about Mt. Rainier National Park. I still do not feel like leaving my pictures of star fish with the sea stacks, and the enchanted kingdom-like rain forests in my Olympic National Park post. It is not that Mt. Rainier National Park has nothing to offer, for Mt. Rainier is an amazing nature wonderland and National Park. Only that for 2 days we were there, we had gray sky, had mostly thick fogs the visibility was so poor, we had rain, snow, and some sort of blizzard blowing on us. How was the visibility like when we were there? It was like these.

( the picture above with the wide landscape of Mt. Rainier is what we were supposed to see in front of us, but in the picture, you will only see some snow and nothing, thick fog in front of us that won't let us see a few feet away from us)

Now, I do not really dislike fog, in fact, I love waking up to it most of the time in the morning here in San Diego, especially when the sun breaks in middle of the day. But not when we spent for 2-nights lodging and get thick fogs, rain, on and off snow and blizzard for 2 days we were there. But then, of course, this is not the fault of Mt.Rainier National Park, for the park is really a natural beauty and a source of inspiration, even when we were there at one of Mt. Rainier's worst days in the middle of summer. So, let me count the ways how we enjoyed the park despite having bad weather......

1. stopped on the road for whatever waterfalls we hear ( we can't see it from afar because of fog), and true enough, it was as joyful to listen to the sound of nature.

What is He Taking a Video Of? 

This Waterfall Below....

Waterfall in Fog Beside the Road

2. Hiked despited we did not know if we will be seeing anything because of visibility. But then, the thick fogs were lifted once a while for a brief moment for us to take pictures.

Does This Look Like a Summer Hike?

( Love it when fogs are lifted higher and can take some pictures)

But we were rewarded in some of our hikes, such as:

What? We See Mt. Rainier Now :)

Fogs Slowly Rising, Ice, River and Comet Falls

Blocks of Ice and Comet Falls

(it's such a joy being here, after 1500 ft uphill hike on icy snow packed trail in some parts, steep rocky strewn trail in other parts, and a not so good weather )

320 ft-tall Comet Falls Behind Me

( even despite dark skies and storms, you never know when the heaven will lift the fog to open up to you a world of wonder )

3. Focused on waterfalls and wildflowers, something that you can still take pictures up close when visibility is poor.

Christine Falls

Narada Falls

Despite a bad weather when we were there, nevertheless, we were still able to have some fun, and enjoyed Mt. Rainier our way. 

Sliding Down Instead of Hiking Down

Definitely, we will be back here at Mt. Rainier, and we will call it, Mt. Rainier take 2, hopefully, the next time we go back the weather will be on our side to explore and experience Mt. Rainier at its beautiful best.

♥♥