I am in Seattle this week for business. It is easy to forget that there is a 14000 foot mountain just out of town because you never see it! I ended up waking up at 4:30 local time today. From prior experience I know that Mt. Ranier sits due east of the town I am staying in and it is beautiful when you can see it. I checked the sky and I could actually see stars so I kept the hotel curtains open. Low and behold I was able to watch the sunrise from my hotel window and there was the mountain. Mt. Ranier reminds me alot of the Tetons. It is large and just looms up from the valley floor. I was able to see it for about an hour before a thick fog came in and then the 14000 ft Mountain was gone!
8 comments:
I've seen the cascades and I have seen them up close but never from the big cities (in my case Portland). There is just too much "atmosphere"!
Mt. Ranier is a breath-taking sight wherever you see it. The National Park is incredible and I recommend that everyone go see it sometime. Dad and I went with David and Lana, Matthew and Shelby years ago and it is a trip I'll never foget.
Seeing Mt. Ranier like you did, Dan, is a great way to start the day!
by the way i must add that this is not my picture. I stole it off a website.
I worked in Kent WA for about a month and never saw one inch of this mountain. The first time I saw Rainer was from a hill top above the Rose Gardens in Portland. It was not as impressive from that distance, but it does say something about the size of the mountain. I can remember one day a few years after my first month there coming out of the plant and the clouds had burned off and this giant was looming over the city. I love mountains, I really missed them when I lived in the Midwest. Hood and Rainier bring a lot to the area around them.
Mt. Rainer is a sleeping beauty that we all hope stays asleep. You don't always see her this time of year. If you get a chance to take on of the ferries into Seattle on a clear day that view water and city with Rainer looming over them is great.
I also love the view from Yakima where you can see both Adams and Rainer at the same time. It would be fun to see the view from the top someday, but I want to do something easy like Hood first.
If you want to climb it http://www.rmiguides.com/rainier/summit_climbs_4day.html
I don't know that I would want to climb it. Some things are just too risky. I'm sure the view from the top would be wonderful.
Ranier is just a little higher than the Grand but with all the moisture that falls there the snow is about 4 - 5 times deeper there than in the Rockys ... Some day I'd like to go back and see the big trees we camped by years ago.
I am in Seattle this week no Ranier to be seen.
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