Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park
Aug 15,2022
Monday morning we were up early, grabbed quick breakfast at home in Issaquah and were on the road before 7:00 am. We headed south east towards Auburn and then to Ashford, WA. Took us about 3 hours to reach the Nisqually entrance of Mt Rainier National Park( MRNP for future reference).
This is the fourth park in the USA to gain status of National Park. It was established in 1899. Mt Rainier is an active volcano and most glaciated peaks in the continental USA. It stands 14,410 feet tall.
Our first day in the park we planned to drive up to Paradise Visitor Center. But on the way up there we stopped to take the trail to Narada Falls. From the falls we kept walking further up a rather steep trail to Reflection Lakes. There were imposing views of Mt Rainier with some awesome reflections when the waters of the lake were not ruffled by breeze. Some wildflowers were seen along the trail. Turned out to be over 4 miles round trip hike to where we had parked our car.
Once at the Paradise location we grabbed a cold sandwich for lunch and headed to the Nisqually Loop Trail. The wildflowers along this loop were much more abundant than we saw on the earlier trail. This was another 2.5 miles of hiking. That was enough for the day.
We had our reservation for the night in Packwood which was supposed to be an hour’s drive out of the park. Except it took us nearly 2 hours because of road closures. Once in Packwood we got ourselves a pizza at a local pizzeria before heading to our accommodation. The town appeared quite run down and our cabin was in a rather shabby neighborhood. I felt uncomfortable with the prospect of staying there 3 nights. I was ready to run away back to my home. Amita comforted me that it would be ok. We agreed to cancel one night and the host was gracious to refund the money. Having done that we called it a day !
Saree for the day was a bright red Kanchi cotton with Lambani embroidery.
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