{"id":1813,"date":"2013-06-19T14:40:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T14:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=1813"},"modified":"2013-06-19T14:40:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T14:40:17","slug":"mount-rainier-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2013\/06\/19\/mount-rainier-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Rainier National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Entrance<\/a>
Entrance to Mount Rainier National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We finally reached Mount Rainier about 1130. \u00a0Mount Rainier was the fifth designated National Park. \u00a0The\u00a0United States\u00a0has 59\u00a0national parks, which are operated by the\u00a0National Park Service, an agency of the\u00a0Department of the Interior. \u00a0National parks must be established by an act of the\u00a0United States Congress. The first national park,\u00a0Yellowstone, was signed into law by President\u00a0Ulysses S. Grant\u00a0in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then\u00a0Sequoia\u00a0and\u00a0Yosemite\u00a0in 1890. \u00a0 Mount Rainier was the first to be designed specifically as a national park, so the roads are laid out to enhance enjoyment of the park rather than just the most efficient transit. \u00a0According to the video at the visitors’ center, when you go around a bend in the road and see a majestic view, that was intentionally designed into the road system by the architects and engineers.<\/p>\n

\"Hike<\/a>
Hike to the Silver Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon after entering the park we took a hike near the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center (closed due to sequestration) to see the hot springs and the Silver Falls. \u00a0According to the National Park Service, there is so much vegetation in Mount Rainier National Park that there is more biomass here than in most tropical rain forests. \u00a0I can believe that from this short hike. \u00a0We saw huge, tall pines that were more than a couple of hundred years old.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/a>
Tommy testing the temperature of the hot springs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of the area we hiked through had initially been developed as a rest camp with 30 cabins where visitors enjoyed the “restorative” powers of the hot springs. \u00a0Today the cabins are gone and the area is returning to its natural site, but you can get close enough to touch the hot water coming out of the ground.<\/p>\n

\"Hike<\/a>
Hike to Silver Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was a 3.5-mile hike over hilly terrain, but it was well worth the walk. \u00a0The falls were quite impressive.<\/p>\n

\"Silver<\/a>
Silver Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those two little specks at the top of the falls are Tom and Sam.<\/p>\n

\"Roadside<\/a>
Roadside turnout where we got our first glimpse of Mount Rainier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a couple of hours in the\u00a0Ohanapecosh area we continued driving to the Paradise Visitors Center on Mount Rainier itself. \u00a0We came around a corner and were greeted by our first full view of the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"Where<\/a>
Where the Cowlitz river has carved through rock to create Box Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along the way to Paradise, we stopped to see this “box canyon.” \u00a0On this very short hike we saw where the river has carved itself through the rock and also where glaciers have smoothed out the rock around the top of the canyon. \u00a0The river is about 115 feet below us where I took this picture. \u00a0Just a little farther away it was 185 feet down.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking 115 down into Box Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Some<\/a>
Some swell dudes at the Paradise Trailhead with Mount Rainier in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally we made it to the Paradise Visitors Center. \u00a0After an obscenely-priced meal at the cafeteria, we walked a little way up the Paradise trail. \u00a0When the snow melts you have to stay on designated trails, but while the snow is four or five feet deep (as it was this day), you can wander freely. \u00a0Way up to the right we could see people body surfing down the steep hillsides.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hiking<\/a>
Hiking to the Nisqually Overlook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the Paradise area, Tom, Sam, and I took a hike to the Nisqually Vista, from which we could see the Nisqually glacier. \u00a0The trail was invisible other than the poles stuck in the ground. \u00a0We “power walked” the two miles along the icy trail.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/a>
Sam demonstrating her graceful, ninja, snow-walking skill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam had some trouble staying on her feet, but her falls were quite acrobatic. \u00a0Tommy was laughing so hard the tears in his eyes made it hard for him to walk.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>
Tom and Sam at the Nisqually Overlook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the view that greeted us at the end of the hike. \u00a0Behind the kids you can see where the glacier has carved out parts of the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking down over the lip of Narada Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last thing we stopped to see before heading to Oregon was the Narada Falls. \u00a0This was an unplanned stop, but well worth the time.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking up Narada Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This picture doesn’t really do justice to these Falls. \u00a0They were enormous. \u00a0Where the water crashed below, a dense mist billowed up to twenty or thirty feet above where I took this picture. \u00a0That’s why the picture looks a little foggy.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we’re off to explore the Oregon coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We finally reached Mount Rainier about 1130. \u00a0Mount Rainier was the fifth designated National Park. \u00a0The\u00a0United States\u00a0has 59\u00a0national parks, which are operated by the\u00a0National Park Service, an agency of the\u00a0Department of the Interior. \u00a0National parks must be established by an act of the\u00a0United States Congress. The first national park,\u00a0Yellowstone, was signed into law by President\u00a0Ulysses … Continue reading Mount Rainier National Park<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}