Mt. Rainier in My Face!

KC and I have discussed to hike in Dolomite this year, but did not proceed with the plan.  I invited her to hike with me in Mt. Rainier instead.  Ed graciously agreed to play host for us.  So I flew directly from Calgary to Seattle, where KC met up with me in the airport.  Ed and Karen picked us up, and started a very nice 7 days tour of Yakima and Mt. Rainier NP.  Ed cooked a very nice dinner for us:

We head out the first thing next morning to hike in the Bear Creek Trail: One can see a lot of lupines and Indian paint brush:

 

Andrea invited us to her house for dinner.  She served sparkling wine, cool cantaloupe soup, fresh corn, salad with beef strips, and ice cream topped with frozen fresh blueberries.  We sat on the porch looking at her lovely garden.  Very charming evening!

Ethan happen to be visiting Ed.  I have not seen him for so long.  He has grown up to such as tall big guy.  How time flies:

 The second hike was to the south side of Mt. Rainier.  A few Cascadians joined us.

 Monica standing on the bridge above the Christine Falls:

 Ed climbed up to pick some Salmon berries

 They are a bit tart.  But we also found some small purple huckleberries, which were very sweet.

We also saw these interesting woody mushrooms:

 Fern crossing the bridge on our way to the Comet Falls.

 The Comet Fall:

 

We then passed Vam Tramp Camp and reached the Mildred Point to have lunch.  The trail to Mildred Point climbs at a moderate grade through the forest, sprinkled with beargrass long past bloom. Also one can see the petite bistorts dotted along the way.

We reached the Mildred to break for lunch.  Mt. Rainier is right at our face.  This is the south side view of Mt. Rainier. A dried up glacier can be seen below too.

We took it easy the following day and did museum visiting and wine tasting:

 KC enjoyed the wine tasting very much.

 Pretty view outside the Windy Point winery:

 And we tasted the sparkling wines too:

The third hike was to the Nachess Peak:
We crossed the bridge acrss the highway:

 Lupines were glorious:

 It is just so beautiful!!

The fourth hike we did was to the third Burrough, starting from the Sunrise Visitor Center.

The trail we were on:

 The Frozen Lake behind:

 Ed was teaching us how to walk on snow path:

 Heading toward the Third Burrough:

 Having lunch on the Third Burrough:

 The Mt. Rainier from the north side view

 A nice butterfly joined us during lunch:

 KC on the snow path:

 On the way back to the Sunrise Visitor Center for the back side:

While in Yakima, we really enjoyed the sun rise and moon rise from Ed's deck: