The journey begins. We came to the ferries 2 hours early and STILL found out we were #8 on STANDBY. But they said we had 95% chance of getting on. We made it.
On the ferry Jeremy took too many pictures of planes and boats. I'm only putting two of them.
Jeremy loves float planes.
Five plus hours later, we were at the Flaming Geyser State Park where we went floating down the river for about an hour. It was fun! Especially the "rapids."
The hot springs at the Ohanapecosh campground where we stayed met us early Friday morning when Jeremy and I decided to do some exploring.
The hot springs. Ta da! I was expecting a large bubbling brook so it was rather disappointing...
But very lush, interesting to see the ecosystem of the hot springs.
The tree stump with dates behind the Visitors' Center.
The scenes on our drive the next morning up the mountain towards Paradise.
Jeremy climbed up the rocky pebbly crumbly part of a mountain for this shot.
Pretty...
Wildflowers...the Indian paintbrush, one of Jeremy's favorites.
At the Box Canyon
Mt Rainier in the clouds
Flowers and a pretty mountain lake
Annie, Jeremy, Mom and Dad
Lunch below the Jackson Visitor Center, we were visited by jays, chipmunks and deer...who were insistent that we SHARE our food.
Dad is holding up bread crumbs and they were more than happy to steal them off his hand.
So he started putting pieces of bread on his head...
They were not scared of us at all.
There's Jesus and the dove, then there's Dad and the jay...
Mr. Deer wanders by.
Cute little chipmunk.
Eating some peanut butter on the table.
Fortunately he didn't take a bite out of my hand to test its edibility.
Jeremy sharing nuts. This is highly illegal by the way as we found out later seeing all the signs saying not to feed the wildlife. Oops.
It's on to hike on the mountain. We got side-tracked by seeing this stream flowing under the melted snow.
It made us think of ice caves....
Two of us in our "cave"
Jeremy
The snow-covered trail up the 4th Crossing Trail that connects to the Skyline Trail
Some small falls that we walked past
More pretty wildflowers
Mom and Dad on the sometimes soggy trail
More water
Absolutely loved the wildflowers
Aren't the flowers so pretty?
Jeremy and I on the Skyline Trail
Mom and Dad climbing
Climbing
There was lots of snow. And snowball fights.
More pretty meadows of flowers and mountains and trees...
More snow, meadows full of flowers, and mountain peaks
Gorgeous views
Stream in the snow. It's already August but there was so much snow this year that it hasn't melted yet.
Past the treeline. Amazingly beautiful, isn't it?
I could just sit there and soak all the beauty in.
Jeremy takes a picture of Mom and Dad by the stream. We continue on the trail closer to the mountain.
Picture of Mom and Dad
Jeremy and I with Dad "hiding" in the background.
We could barely see this white-tailed ptarmigan. We wouldn't have even seen him if he wasn't making some loud hen-like noises that made us stop to look around to see where it was coming from. When he closes his eyes, he's even more invisible.
Our ptarmigan friend.
Those yellow flowers stood out.
Really really beautiful.
Mom at the bridge.
The stream from this side.
We continued climbing to the other ridge to see Sluiskin Falls. Beautiful view. We could hear it during our hike but couldn't see it until this point.
Jeremy and I with the falls in the background
Mom and Dad decided to go back down the Skyline Trail while Jeremy and I decided to keep climbing up in the snow until we hit the Golden Gate Trail and take it down to where it connects with the Skyline Trail again. Here are views from the Golden Gate.
Hiking the Golden Gate Trail
Pretty.
Someone made a snowman at the short section of the Golden Gate Trail that was covered with snow.
Rest stop to soak it all in.
We saw a marmot running in the snow
We took a short detour on the Skyline Trail to see Myrtle Falls.
Gorgeous. That's Jeremy there way in the distance unenthusiastically waving at me at my insistence.
One last stop at Narada Falls before we headed back to camp
Beautiful Narada Falls
Our drive up to Sunrise on Sabbath. Views from a parking lot.
Jeremy doing some height-defying moves...
Sunrise Lake
"View" at Sunrise
Pretty flower-covered meadows at high speeds
The Visitors Center at Sunrise
On a clear day, we're told, the views are amazing from here. But we didn't have a clear day.
Us on a bridge over the mudslide
We call this the Ghost Trees of the Grove of the Patriarchs (pic should be later in the album)
Jeremy, Mom and I went off the beaten path to follow a river to find these falls while Dad was napping in the car.
Hanging bridge at Grove of the Patriarchs
Mom and I looking up at the huge trees at the Grove of the Patriarchs
Treehuggers
So we decided to go down to White River campground to eat lunch at the picnic area there and then go for a short walk to take a look at the river and the landslide. (this pic refuses to join the rest of the mudslide pics)
Our visit to the Grove of the Patriarchs.
Ghost trees
We wandered down this creek
To find these falls
The water looked soooo inviting. If only it wasn't freezing cold, I would have jumped in right here.
Jeremy looks like he wants to jump in too.
Bliss, I am told, is soaking your hand in the bubbly.
Climbing back up
Silver Falls
Silver Falls. Jeremy and I took a quick hike to take a look at these falls on Sabbath on our way back home.
Campfires are such beautiful things.
Packing up camp on Sunday morning.
Mom and Jeremy at Christine Falls
Jeremy and I at Christine Falls
Christine Falls
Stream above Christine Falls
On the bridge, looking down at Christine Falls
We decided to take a short hike to the bridge above Christine Falls. This is the view behind the bridge.
Picture of the bridge (the people are just extras).
On the road back to our island, crossing the Tacoma-Narrows bridge.
Views from the Dungeness State Park
The beach below us
The trail by the coast
It's a long ways down. We didn't stay too long as there really was not too much to see and we had a ferry to catch.
