Mount Rainier (or so we hoped)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Today we went down to Mount Rainier, hoping the clouds would clear in the afternoon, revealing the mountain in all her glory.

We stopped for lunch at Scale Burgers in Elbe.  

At the Nisqually Entrance into the Mount Rainier National Park we upgraded our annual Olympic National Park pass to the America the Beautiful Pass which allows entrance to all the national parks and parking at the national forest trailheads.

We drove up to Paradise which is at 5050’ elevation. The surrounding Cascades.

Cool Henry Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise completed in 2008.

Rainier? Clouds covering its 26 glaciers, the most on any mountain in the contiguous U.S.

Cascades.

We hiked up the mountain a bit planning to see what we could at the lookout, but the snow cover made it difficult to keep track of the trail.

 
We chose to descend. This is Joe’s method to slide down this portion of steep slope.

Nikki’s turn.

Nikki hiking in snow in the middle of August.

Beautiful blue skies behind the clouds, but the large one never left peak of Mount Rainier.

The terrain we climbed. I’m sure glad my orange hiking shoes that are rated for a water event didn’t have any issues in the snow. My ankles really needed the break after hiking all yesterday in my waterproof hiking boots.

Joe and his ladies.

Me & Nikki.

One more try.

The Cascades to the south.

More photo ops.

Beautiful.

Overlook on the drive further east.

This overlook would be a prime location to view Mount Rainier. Too bad this was all we could see. Cloud cover at about 550’ to above the 14040’ peak.

Narada Falls south of Paradise from the overlook.

Views down Stevens Canyon Road.

More cloud cover coming in as we drove up to Sunrise which is at 6050’ elevation.

Sunrise Lake which was completely undercover 20 minutes later.

We couldn’t see a darn thing at Sunrise. We went in the newly renovated Visitor Center and used the restrooms before doing the long drive home. The route from the house to Paradise, to Sunrise and home is a 7 hour plus journey. The Xterra got a lot of mileage this weekend.

We went to have dinner in Seattle at another Diner, Drive-ins and Dives location. We went to Bizzarro Italian Café in Wallingford.  It was going to be an hour wait, so we went down the street to grab a beer at a bar for Nikki’s 21^st birthday.

 
Guy Fieri called it “the best clam linguini ever.” I had this dish with fresh clams from the Puget Sound, handmade pancetta, roasted jalapenos and fresh made linguini. I agree, “Where has this been all my life?” He drank the broth and I probably would have done the same. Joe had the lamb shank, polenta and brussel sprouts. Nikki had the meatballs which they make every Sunday night.  This had to be our best meal we’ve eaten in Seattle. Amazing Italian in a funky neighborhood restaurant not far from Green Lake.

North Cascades Day-Hikes

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Friday night we went to Bobby’s Hawaiian Style Restaurant in Everett (featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives). We were greeted with ‘Aloha’ when we can in. It was pretty good. I had the Mochi Chicken, Nikki had the Lau Lau (pork wrapped in taro leaf & steamed) and Joe had the Bar-B-Que Beef. Mine was the favorite. Hawaiian fried chicken with a tropical hint.

Early Saturday morning we drove north to hike the North Cascades. We took I-5 to Arlington and made our way to Highway 20/N Cascades Hwy through Darrington. Around here the clouds began to depart, making Mt Pilchuck somewhat visible. We stopped by the Darrington Ranger Station to pick up the $5 daily Northwest Forest Pass for parking at the trailheads for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. At Rockport we entered the beauty of the North Cascades.

We noted a few good-looking locations to eat as we passed Marblemount.

Seattle City Light, who is the public utility providing 25% of the electrical power to Seattle and the surrounding area, operates the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project in Newhalem. It is a series of 3 hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River.

The 3 dams providing power are Gorge Dam, Diablo Dam and Ross Dam. This is Gorge Dam and Gorge Lake beyond.

We drove by Diablo Lake. We parked at the Thunder Knob Trailhead, just before Thunder Arm off Diablo Lake. It is 3.8mi round-trip hike with a moderate 650’ elevation gain to a 360 degree view of Pyramid Peak, Diablo Lake, Jack Mountain and Thunder Arm. The trailhead begins in Colonial Creek Campground, which has some nice sites with access to the lake shore.

Log crossing over Colonial Creek.

Sneak peak of south Thunder Arm.

North Cascades. My favorite mountain rock formation, ‘the claw’.

Diablo Lake.

Rock tower. Of course Joe & Nikki’s game became who could throw a some stone at it and knock it over.

Snack time. Note Chance’s ear. The wind here felt great after the hike up.

At the peak. About the same view from the highway overlook across the way.

Joe, Nikki & Chance.

Family pic.

Nikki.

Chance.

Heading back down Thunder Knob Trail.

Thunder Arm of Diablo Lake by Colonial Creek Campground.

We drove by the Ruby Arm of south Ross Lake in the Ross Lake Recreation Area.

We drove by several trailheads that were not listed as being completely open (snow not cleared), but the parking lots were full. Looks like the internet wasn’t up-to-date.

The next trail we took was to Cutthroat Lake, 45 minutes away. It is on the way down into the Methow Valley, 25 miles east of Winthrop. This is a 3.9mi trail near Cutthroat Creek.

Hiking the trail.

Mountains.

A drink of water in Cutthroat Creek.

Pit-stop.

Another drink in Cutthroat Creek.

Chance smelt a nearby campsite grillin’ food.

Cooling off with a dip in cold Cutthroat Creek.

Nikki.

Mmm, dried mangos.

Another log crossing.

Chance is a good hiker when she has to carry her own stuff.

Cutthroat Lake. The marshy grasses kept us from the water’s edge.

There was a small narrow off-the-maps trail toward tall rocks on the south bank where we could see people sunbathing.

Getting closer.

The trail was very muddy, making it difficult to find solid ground. Nikki took one for the team thinking there was a log in the middle of the mud trail, only to discover it was all mud as deep as her hiking boots!

Cutthroat Lake view while Nikki washed off.

Glimpses of rock shore.

Looks like my camera is starting go. Not sure why these streaks have begun to show up in some of my photos today, but I liked this one of a fly-fisherman. Looks like I need to start looking for a new camera.

Crystal clear waters. Blue when reflecting the sky, green when reflecting the lush vegetation.

Back across Cutthroat Creek log crossing.

Cutthroat Creek.

Beautiful drop down into the Methow Valley.

Driving home along the N Casacades Hwy.

We stopped at Marblemount Diner for dinner.  We had oyster shooters, fish n’ chips, Pork Tenderloin Sandwich and Southern Country Fried Steak sandwich.