Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Another Sunrise at Mt Rainier
I already posted about our first trip in the r pod to Silver Springs Campground, but I can’t resist sharing another picture of those lovely springs and a side trip we took to Sunrise.
The campground is close to Mt Rainier National Park so one day we took the drive along the White River to one of its most popular destinations, Sunrise.
On the way to the top, we stopped by Sunrise Point and enjoyed a nearly 360 degree panorama of the Cascade Mountains.
Continuing up we arrived at the Sunrise Visitor Center, at 6400 feet, the highest point you can reach in the park by car.
After lunch, we took some of the short trails leading to close up views of the Mountain.
At Emmons Vista we had a good look at the largest glacier by area in the contiguous United States. Emmons Glacier descends from the summit into the White River Valley and is seen left of the triangular rock known as Steamboat Prow in the picture below. What looks like gray land where the White River emerges is actually the terminus of the glacier, where hundreds of feet of glacial ice are covered with avalanche debris from a rock fall in 1963.
More recently (just a few weeks before our visit), another icefall deposited huge chunks of ice on Mt Rainier’s most popular climbing route near Ingraham Glacier, reminding us just how volatile this mountain can be. Fortunately the climbing group that discovered the massive chunks of ice had started their climb later than normal or they wouldn’t have survived.
Happy to be viewing the sleeping giant safely from below. Or as safe as can be considering she is still an active volcano. Life is not without its risks.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Beautiful photos – what a great set of pics!
Thanks so much John!
Beautiful pics!
Thank you!
We used to camp at high altitudes including one lovely hike into Mt. Jefferson. I love the ice on the water in the morning even in summer. Thanks for reminding me of those days.
Thanks so much for your lovely comment. 🙂
Miss that place. You captured it beautifully! ❤️
Thank you! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Gorgeousssss!!
Thank you! 😊
Lovely photos of a very impressive place indeed. Let’s hope that old volcano stays asleep!
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes indeed! thanks Pete. I’m not actually worried about her blowing but they do mention it here now and then!
Wooooow!! That glacier is stunning! What amazing photos! Also, it is pretty amazing that you can drive up so blooming high!! 😀
I hope we get to explore this area at some point. I love Mount Garibaldi and Mount Baker, so I guess Mount Rainer is the next massive volcano in that chain!? 😀
Thank you so much!! Yes Mt Rainier is the highest in the range. It’s wonderful and new everytime I visit. You would love it!!