Mount Rainier was our next destination. Do I have a desire to summit it? Not right now but I imagine it would be pretty spectacular. We didn't have reservations for any of the campsites in the park and none were available by the time we got there on a busy weekend...but we did find a group of squatters at a random horse camp outside of the park and spent a quick night with them. Just needed a patch of grass to pitch our tent on and quick access to the park in the morning.
Sunrise was our first hiking spot. Clear day and crazy awesome views...once we actually decided on and found the trail we wanted to do. We ran into a lot of backpackers completing a hike on my bucket list: The Wonderland Trail. It's 93 miles and forms a loop around the base of Rainier. Greg was skeptical at first but has since informed me that he loves the backpacking life.
I have so many hikes on my bucket list.
The ones I'll probably never get to are the ones that require advanced planning and permits...like the Wonderland Trail.
Marmot! He was just chilling next to the trail, waiting for us to abandon our snacks for one second.
This is Greg's beard after two days. Can you tell? It doesn't look much different after 2 weeks...
Also, this was back when he still had two trekking poles. More on that in a post to come.
Ugh, lunch. I tried to make chicken alfredo but neglected to copy down the instructions for our specific type of backcountry preparation. It turned into chicken soup...but not the kind you take over to a dear sick friend. We were hungry so we ate it but we also decided that Greg would be the trip cook from there on out.
Greg is such a good cook. Not that he possesses any particular skills as a cook, but he's patient and he follows directions. I on the other hand have no patience and cut all sorts of corners and make irrational substitutions.
It's not the perfect example but it proves a point: leftover pizza. Greg will heat up the oven and broil each slice back to perfection. Meanwhile, in that 10 minutes, I've scarfed down 3 slices of cold pizza and have already moved on with life.
His methods are more palatable and if I'm not immediately involved in the food preparation process, I can busy myself with other things and magically return when it's all done and delicious. It's a strategy we're both a fan of. Too bad he gets home super late on weeknights and we can't employ this in real life!
I tried to be artsy with this one but I have much to work on when it comes to landscape photography. And photography in general.
The park was gorgeous and such a crazy awesome drive and also there were a ton of people. Not at 6am when we got there but by late afternoon we were so ready to move on. Then we got stuck behind a slow trailer in a no passing zone for 50 miles and even Greg was getting angsty.
Seattle or bust.
Have a great day :-)
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