Mount Rainier National Park, Washington Cougar Rock CG 9/30 - 10/04 2020 Travel Tour

                                          From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

                                                            Tim and Linda Bunyan

From Kennewick, we head toward Mount Ranier National Park on Stevens Canyon Road (Wonderland Trail) to enter the Longmire area at the Nisqually Entrance of the east side.  

The Highway is cut through the mountains, this wall is built 

to hold the mountain off the highway.

From the west ridge of Paradise Basin at White Pass Ski area is the most popular hiking route via Camp Muir at 1,000 feet and ascents the Ingraham Glacier to the summit at Ingraham Flats (11,000 feet).

Entrance to Mount Ranier National Park

We've reservations at Cougar Rock Campground.  We are happy to have a campsite as this stop was not on our original plan for the 2020 Travel Tour.   It has become a climactic end for 2020....our Grand Finale!!!

Breathtaking Mount Ranier is within view at almost every aspect of the National Park !!!

We explore sections of the 93-mile hiking trail appropriately named The Wonderland Trail.  The scenery is covered in trees.  After four months of looking at rocks, it is welcome for the change of scenery along Steven Canyon Road.

The Nisqually Glacier flows from the summit of Mount Rainer.  Its rock-strewn terminus is visible just above the left valley wall.  The debris-strewn path and exposed rock of the upper valley wall, and the meltwater area are evident.

Mount Ranier is as captivating a visual ........as a sunset; a scene one never weary.

The Paradise River runs clear, not milky, as it originates from snowfields, not debris from glaciers.

We hike to the magical Narada Falls located a short distance from our camp area.

159' horsetail fall with multiple channels down the rock face.

The visitor center in the Paradise area rests on a number of breathtaking trails with panoramic views.  The skyline trail loop and Myrtle Falls and golden gate ridge trail are short hikes approx 3 miles roundtrip.

Paradise Ranger Station: Dial 911 for Emergency.

Early 1900 when the auto was introduced to the National Parks (Paradise Visitor Center then).

Paradise Visitor Center is covid closed; however, restrooms and gift shops open with Ranger to answer questions and offer trail maps. 

Alta Vista Trail is not so difficult to do.  Very pretty sights there

Views from the center are stunning and all-around clear.

Perfect place to see mount rainier and it is a bright sunny day.

These steps are the entrance from the Visitor Center to many trails: Skyline trail, Myrtle Falls, Golden Gate, and Panorama Trail.

Fathers and families and there is Tim on a walking trail near the Paradise Visitor Center

Sites along the world-famous and glorious trails!

Located a short 2 miles from our Cougar Rock Campground is one of the starting points of the Wonderland Trail.

Resting at the campground to confer with Woodstock and the map to plan tomorrow.

We visit the historic Longmire District along the Trail of the Shadow.  The Village is designed to blend with the natural setting where the meadow meets the forest in Nisqually River Valley.  James Longmire opened a mineral springs resort in the 1880s.

The rustic style Longmire Service Station serviced the arriving visitors in autos in the early 1900s.  Essential services fuel pumps and a covered bay to the store access.  

Douglas fir tree begins to grow 1293.  For many thousands of years, native people have used this wood as a source of light and heat.

Longmire Historic District is a visitor services center in Washington State Mount Rainer National Park.  The area is in the Nisqually River valley at an elevation of 2700 feet surrounded by old-growth douglas fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock

Longmire Administration Building built in 1922 of cedar logs and glacier boulders.  The guiding principle of park development promoted by Stephen T. Mather, first director of the National Park Service to design buildings that are not only attractive to look upon, but also appear to belong to, and be part of, their settings.

Food Cache for hikers with instructions to package food in a plastic container to keep out rodents.  A printed label must be on the container.  The hiker may return, their stated date and permit number 

to claim their stored cache.

The Administration Building serves as a Wilderness Information Center.

Stream gaging station is part of a national network for obtaining water resources information.  Recording water level and rate of flow used for flood forecasting, hydrologic and geologic hazard alerting.

Longmire Wooden Truss Suspension Bridge is different from others we've seen on our travels.  Built in the early 1920s it is a combination of timber trusses and steel cable.  Despite its heavy structure, it still moves as we cross it in our truck.  

It does not lead to anywhere except......  

The former headquarters district of the park includes four structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   

The largest concentration of National Park Service Rustic-style structures in the park.

The Longmire Meadows area and the park concession and administration facilities.

Beyond is a gravel park service road and a community building and Valor Memorial honoring employees and volunteers who lost their lives saving others in the National Park. 

"The most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings." - John Muir, conservationist, 1889

On the forested slopes of Mount Rainier, this cozy seasonal hotel is set in a 1916 lodge.  It is covid-closed but a delight to walk around the exterior.

The forest to the meadow hiking trail.

This Longmire trail leads through the peacefulness of the old-growth forest of the river valleys and the high subalpine meadows on the flanks of Mount Rainier.

Fallen trees remain on the ground for hundreds of years protecting the soil from erosion.  

We stop for a cocktail at the southwest corner of Mt. Rainier National Park at the National Park Inn.  Lodging is covid closed; however, the are a half dozen front porch seating available with ample room for us to take a break to view the ever-present Mount Ranier.

Mount Rainer is gorgeous  A must visit when visiting the Seattle area.

Kennewick, Washington Elks Lodge 9/29 - 9/30 2020 Travel Tour

                                               From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

                                                            Tim and Linda Bunyan

We are in Kennewick, Washington for an overnight at the Elks Lodge on our way for a stay in the Mount Rainier National Park.  We have traveled from Lewiston, Idaho to Kennewick, Washington along Scenic Byway Highway 12 following the Lewis and Clark route. 

Overnight at the Elk Lodge in Kennewick, WA

This beautiful route traverses the winding Snake River to the Columbia River at Pasco.

This perfect scenic byway is laced with cultivation.  Filled with corn and fruit

along this 100 miles from east to west in Washington, the apple state 

                                              (and onions, and wine, and beans, et al!)

Kershaw Companies, SuperFresh Grocers, and DSG Logistics work together in this landscape.

                                   Fruit Storage among these huge acres of agriculture!

           Pallet boxes for transporting.  This 100 miles stretch of highway is filled with the bounty!

                                             Areas receiving life from the Snake River

                                               General Mills is an actor in this scene

The mighty river: Giver of Life!

                             As far as one can see, agriculture lines each side of the highway!

Water delivered from the snake and pumped into channels into large water sprinkling system.

                                                                     Lots of bounties!

Along this scenic highway are small towns maintained with their sense of proud history and identity in their ability to cultivate and grow produce.

Pomeroy, population 1500 is the county seat of the only city in Garfield County.  This history points out this trail existed and was recorded by Lewis and Clark as the Nez Perce trail.

Efforts by the Historic Committee has established a 10-block section of Pomeroy's downtown as placed on the National Historic Register.

Waitsburg, Washington in Walla Wala County, population 1500.  It is unique being the state's only city that still operates under its territorial charter.  First settled in 1859, named for Sylvester M. Wait who established a mill in 1864.

A must stop at this old-fashioned general store, billed with all sorts of goods, replete with

a group of locals gabbing around a table having coffee.  A dog or two greats you at the door. 

 It is home to Dog Rescue.

We stop at Nancy's Dream, a produce stand where several local folks are adding another greenhouse for product sales.  They tell us when their mom passed away, upon her request they built this produce stand.   

 It now takes up an entire 1/2 block.  People come from 20 miles all around this area to shop at Nancy's Dream, produce stand, on the outskirts of Waitsburg, WA.  

We loaded up on Walla Walla onions to share with friends Bruce and Susan Moneymaker as we plan to spend an overnight at their new house purchase in Shelton, WA.

This day traveling from Lewiston, Idaho to Kennewick, WA is scenic, delightful, and an experience this 100 miles of America to witness capable and prosperous in connecting people and products and cultivating food.

We continue to Mount Ranier west of this land made fertile with the Snake River and Columbia River.