Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Celebrating the Great Outdoors at Silver Springs at Mt. Rainier
For this week’s Sunday Sills Challenge, celebrating the #Great-Outdoors and #Water, I remembered a wonderful water feature we discovered back in our camping days at Silver Springs Campground.
Silver Springs Campground is just outside Mt. Rainier National Park, near the Sunrise entrance; it was the first place we camped in our new R-Pod.
The campground is next to the White River, white from glacial flour, which originates from Emmons Glacier, the largest glacier by area on the mountain.
Reviewing the pictures reminds me of how much we used to enjoy camping, sleeping in the woods and sitting by the campfire, especially in the morning with a strong cup of coffee!
While walking through the campground, we were delighted to discover Silver Springs, water bubbling up out of the ground from nowhere.
We loved the water feature in the campground but spent most our time in the national park at Sunrise. At 6400 ft, it’s the highest point accessible by vehicles in the park.
But the most panoramic views were at Sunrise Point, at 6,120 feet on the way to the top. Oo-la-la!
Mt. Rainier is of course, the centerpiece
but I was thrilled to also see Mt. Adams in the distance. If you squint, you can just see its tiny top on the far left in the picture below.
Here, it is, zoomed in, every bit as beautiful as Mt. Rainier.
Mt. Rainier, at 14,411 ft. is the tallest in the state and second tallest in the continental U.S. Mt. Adams is second tallest in the state at 12,281 ft. and seems rather neglected.
Once at the top, at Sunrise, you’ll find a rustic visitor center,
with lots of great exhibits inside
and good hiking all around.
And I guess that’s enough in one post for the Great Outdoors, and Water!
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Fantastic pics of Rainier and Adams, Susanne! What time of year was this? And how did you like your R-pod? We still have our larger trailer but have thought about sizing down. To think this area is a couple of hours a way for us!!
Thanks, Terri. 🙂 I love the views from the Sunrise side of the mountain! And the campground didn’t require reservations, so we got in easily midweek. This trip was in mid-July. We liked the R-pod, and it had a slide-out which was nice. But I liked our next trailer more, an Aluma-Lite. It was bigger, around 18′, where I think the R-pod was around 15. I liked the layout better and larger bed.
That’s an impressive spring and the mountain’s not bad either!
Such a beautiful site.
Thank you
Silver Springs looks like the kind of midweek find we live for — no reservations, an easy campsite, and a mountain like Rainier looming over it. Some of our family’s best memories come from chasing little water features like that on camping trips. The Sunrise side really is magic. Thanks for sharing this one with the Sunday Stills crowd!
Thanks so much for dropping by! We loved that campground by the river and with the springs! Especially being so close to Sunrise, with amazing views, and great hiking. ☺️
Lovely memories of your trips in the tiny caravan, Susanne. Two days ago I managed to buy a used FZ330 (called FZ300 in the USA) from a reputable online camera dealer here. Obviously used, but with a 6-month guarantee. Looking forward to it arriving from the company.
Best wishes, Pete.
That’s great, Pete! ☺️ I hope you like it, and look forward to seeing your photos!
Your state does the Great Outdoors so well 😀 I love that pretty spring and of course the mountain views!
Thanks, Sarah! I am continually impressed by the Great Outdoors in Washington State, even having lived here my whole life!
Gorgeous wilderness!
Yes, indeed! thank you. 😊