Well, Robert had a work phone call this morning, so it was another late start, but the bed was nice at the Cedars Inn. We got some coffee and breakfast sandwiches from the little coffee hut next to the inn and pondered our route for the day. Originally, we had planned on camping at Mowich Lake and hiking up to Spray Park, but with Robert’s knee slightly worse (we heated when we should have iced) and some info from a local, we decided that we would drive around Rainier and maybe camp on the south side of the park.

We got a lot of cool views of Mount Rainier on the way, lots of views of the glaciers. All in all very cool, but also touristy like Yellowstone, lots of people. With Robert’s knee (and our bodies needing some rest in general) we couldn’t take any of the hikes that get you out of the more popular areas. So we took a very short hike into the meadows around the Paradise Visitor Center and moved on.

At this point in our trip, we’re about ready for a break, but our midpoint of Corvallis is still a couple days away. So we decided to at least go further, get to Olympic National Park today so that we can enjoy the coast a little more. We’re pushing to get to Deer Park tonight, though I’m very tired.

The day has kind of gone by in a fog. I’ve been wrapped up in my own thoughts and all I really remember is that Mount Rainier and its glaciers looked very cool.

Addendum: It’s interesting to have some perspective on how much the Nisqually glacier has shrunk over the last 80 years. We have a National Parks Portfolio written in the 1930s, and it talks about being able to hike about a quarter mile to the terminus of the Nisqually glacier from the bridge that goes over its resulting river. It has now retreated to over a mile from that bridge.