Day 12 Mount Rainier

Last night we stayed at the Red Lion Hotel, and some of us took a cab to Seattle to go check it out and have some dinner. It was Lucia, Jess, Bienchy, Katie, Craig, Billy and Cody. We walked around for a while until we met a local who told us to go to this restaurant down the street called Lecosho. It was beautiful; there were candles and a big bench seat with pillows. We ordered a bunch of food to share. I got the rib ends and it was the best piece of meat I've ever had. We all had such a great time together. It was one of my favorite memories of the trip for sure. This morning we took the vans for an oil change and then we picked up Patrick and Susan from the airport in Seattle. Next we drove to Mt. Rainier and there were foggy clouds hanging low in the mountains, it was really cool. We stopped at the visitor center and then went for a hike on the Wonderland Trail. We lost part of the group and ended up getting some extra exercise trying to find them. Tip: If you ever get lost, STAY PUT! This seems to be a reoccurring trend.....
I loved the hike anyway because the old growth forest was so majestic and beautiful. I've never seen trees so tall in my life. Everything was so green and glowing with life. After we found the rest of the group, we went up to check out Crater Falls, which was very beautiful. It was raining, but we didn't care. It just added to the mysteriousness.

Afterwards, we drove to "The Lodge" near Mount Rainier. It was a big old house, and Tait said it was haunted. It was so big and cozy inside; it had a lot of character. We had a nice dinner together and Tait tried to make me eat his MRE meal that he didnt put hot enough water in. It was pretty funny. Then we had a discussion about Libby and Mt. Rainier. A few of us stayed up to make a fire in the fireplace and we had a few good laughs. I really love this group and I'm so glad to be able to get close with them. I made some really good friends here so far and I'm having a great time.

Mount Rainier National Park is in western central Washington. It is 99% wilderness, which is uncommon. I was fascinated that the area receives between 120 to 600 inches of rain per year and 80 feet of snow on the mountain. The two biggest glaciers are Carbon Glacier and Emmons Glacier. The problem is that they are melting much faster than glaciers in Glacier National Park. The amount of rain they receive here might have something to do with it. Or, it could be because there is less light being refracted back out into space due to the tree cover. We also talked about the fact that the forest is extremely dense, and it is creating fuel for a potential fire that would be devastating to the region.