Mt. Rainier and Olympic Peninsula (Day One)

Well, one can not be amidst albatross always. Here are some of the interesting pics from the latest travels with John Cannon (fellow Duke alumni) to Mt. Rainier as we attempted to hike the Wonderland Trail. Alas, for my foot, the trail would have been completed. (Well, assuming the bridge that was out, would have eventually been fixed---that might have put a damper on our travels as well)

Without further adieu, pictures...

View of Mount Rainier, prior to hiking. We dropped off one of our food caches at Sunrise. elev 6,400 ft

High Elevation Meadow, near Sunrise. The Wonderland Trail can be seen snaking across the countryside.

The Trail Begins...

Day One: Leaving the Ranger Station.

Day One: Narrow Bridge crossing. In most cases, these bridges are built anew every Spring/Summer. Our hike was, even in July, early in the season to hike Rainier and most bridges were only partially completed. Many did not have complete hand rails.









Very interesting wooden piping, made from very large hollow old growth trees.

Below: Zoomed In

You can see that at each joint a ring of smaller wooden planks were connected by strong wire. This part of the hike was very much up-hill! Photo ops were nice breaks along the hike.

Reflection Lakes


Day One Waterfall - near the end of Day- One