Driving east along the Columbia River was interesting. The diversity of the landscape was amazing. Oregon had rocky cliffs and Washington had sloping hills. We crossed the Columbia River and were welcomed into Washington! Now we feel better.
The area around the river on the Washington side is very intense agriculture. Orchards and vineyards occupied acre after acre. It reminds us of the Niagra area in Canada. But the green was shortlived as we climbed the hills north of the river. It wasn't too long until we entered the dessert. This is not what we envisioned Washington state to be like. Mile after mile of sagebrush and rangelands.
Finally we reached Yakima and were back in the fruit belt. We passed through the Apple Maggot quarantine zone south of town. This was interesting since Pennsylvania Dept Agriculture has been setting detection traps for apple maggot for years.
Friday morning we intended to make the trip to Mt. Rainier and left early to make a full day of it. We expected to reach the visitor center around 11 am and have plenty of time to explore. According to the internet, not all the roads were open but we planed on taking the shortest route to Paradise - the main visitors center. We drove north along the Naches River, through the fruit belt and turned west. The drive through along the Tieton River was beautiful. The water seemed high and was very fast moving.
The road entered the Snoqualmie National Forest and with rocks on one side and the river the other, we began to climb. The river keeps everything green in the valley but the hillsides are dessert-like. We finally got into the conifer forests and found Rimrock Lake. The lake is behind the Tieton Dam and quite large with numerous vacation cabins and boat docks.
We continued toward White Pass, elevation 4500ft. As we were driving through the mountains we realized the road hung precariously to the side of the mountain. Frequent rock slide warnings and rock barriers could be seen. On the outside of the hill - nothing could be seen since the side of the mountain dropped quickly out of sight.
And then we saw the low hanging clouds. We were driving at their level! Now we've flown at cloud level and above, but never driven at cloud level. But we continued on our way to see the breathtaking Mt. Rainier.
Finally, the Nisqually Entrance to Rainier National Park. Immediately we were in an old growth forest conifer. Moss and lichens hung from the trees and these tall trees rivaled some of those we had seen at the redwoods. The forest was very thick and littered with downed trees - some still with green foliage.
Then the fog appeared. Slowly at first but before too long, the road was like driving in Pennsylvania on a foggy morning. The higher we went, the denser the fog.
We drove along the Nisqually River for a time. The river bed was wide but there was only a narrow channel of water. But littering the rocky river bed were numerous tree trunks, evidence that the river does indeed gain full width at times.
After what seemed like a lifetime, we reached the first of the information centers - the Logmire Museum. This was the first visitors center after the park was opened in 1899. There were some interesting displays including a cross cut from an old, old Douglas fir tree. The growth rings were marked with various events in history, including some very early volcanic activity in the cascades. The growth rings showed evidence of prior eruptions of Mount St Helens and other cascade volcanoes.
As we continued to climb up Mt. Rainier, the fog returned. The speed limit of 25 mph was not hard to maintain - driving faster would have been dangerous since there were a lot of hairpin turns.
Then we crossed the Nisqually Bridge and came to the stop sign. There was only one lane of travel on the mountain side of the road because the outer side of the road had fallen away in a landslide over the winter. That did not give the driver (or the passenger) a warm fuzzy feeling!
Some of the roads in the National Park were still closed due to snow or damage from winter landslides/ avalanches. So our last stop was at the Paradise Visitors Center. This is supposed to be one of the best views of Mt. Rainier but there was no mountain to be seen - just fog. But, we did see the mountain during the film shown in the visitors center. It is beautiful! But Mt. Rainier is said to create its own weather and today it was creating fog. According to the experts, the mountain "grabs the clouds and holds them around the summit". And today was the day for that phenomenon to be demonstrated.
So without seeing the peak of Mt Rainier, we returned to Yakima on the route we had taken earlier in the day. Of course, as soon as we came back to earth, the low clouds and fog disappeared and we were greeted with sunshine. Now with the sunlight on the mountains passes, some of the rock formations took on a different look. These rocks appeared to be tightly packed stone columns. We have had fantastic weather for the last 3 weeks so we can't complain about the conditions on the mountain today. Maybe that's an excuse to someday return and see it in sunlight.
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