Skyline

2023-07-14
Mount Rainier National Park WA and Portland OR

I felt much better this morning so we decided to tackle the Skyline Loop (not to be confused with the Highline Trail in Glacier or Skyline Drive in Shenandoah or Hills of Skyline which is the neighborhood I grew up in). This hike is the "premier" hike in the park, with some 70% of the park's visitors doing at least some part of the hike (many just doing the lower paved section). That means we were on the road by 7:00 and the parking lot filled abut 20-30 minutes after we arrived around 7:30. The hike is a 5.7 mile loop with 1784 feet of climb. This time I looked it up as to whether go clockwise or counter-clockwise, but apparently it is very mixed with proponents for both directions. We chose the more traditional clockwise, and we were happy with that decision. For the first 2+ miles you walk towards Rainier (and up), while the latter 3ish miles are mostly down hill except for a quarter mile of up in the last half mile. Coming the other way you're behind a mountain and cannot see Rainier except at the bottom and then again near the top. On the way down, when you're tired, you'd have to remember to turn around a lot.

So with my drippy nose and sore throat and Val's strained leg muscles, off we went. The hike was beautiful, with many mountains surrounding the view points. There were several snow packs to cross as on previous alpine hikes, and it was my turn to fall a couple times on the steepish downhill. Once again the alpine flowers were in bloom, which is the great thing about traveling to mountains this time of year.

The hike starts at an elevation of 5500 and goes up to 7100. The weather can be a little trickier here. In the sun it was over 80, but the shade can be 20 degrees cooler. Be sure to wear sunscreen because the sun beats on you and bring extra water.

We bought the only spring water Safeway had that day, which was Crystal Geyser. Unfortunately this water literally makes me thirstier when I drink it. It doesn't affect Valerie the same way. Annoyingly we bought 5 gallons of it. I was able to give one away to the newlyweds from York PA that had parked in the spot next to us. They were doing their honeymoon in a Sprint van. They rented it in Seattle and had been to Olympic and Rainier and were heading to North Cascades. At any rate I remember rejecting a brand of water last year and even odds this is it. Also the bottles lack handles. Two strikes. This evening we picked up some Arrowhead which is a lot better.

Counting previous trips, this is actually my fourth day in Mt. Rainier National Park, and the first day I could see the peak. The first day I was here was two years ago, and the clouds were so low I couldn't see across the parking lot at the Visitor's Center (to be fair, it's a large parking lot). The next day the clouds were slightly higher but well below the peak. Yesterday it was clear when we were a couple hours from the park but with a cloudy peak by the time we got close enough to take pictures. Today it was bright and clear. It turns out everyone was right; it is a beautiful mountain.

After the hike and some time in the visitor center, we headed off to Troutdale, a suburb of Portland. We stopped near the Nisqually Lodge (highly recommend!) at the Copper Creek Inn. They are known for their pie, which currently is just blackberry. We split a chicken sandwich and then split a slice of pie with ice cream. We immediately we regretted eating all that nutritional food. We should have just gotten two pies.

I had forgotten that NJ and OR are the only places that require full service at the gas station. I don't know what (if anything) to tip so I contacted my friend who used to live out here. Of course I forgot it was after 11 on the east coast. Oops. She told me that locals don't tip. I, of course, want to blend in. They won't notice the PA license plate, right?