After finishing up at Mount Rainier Amanda and I started making our way to Seattle. Matt was flying in from Phoenix on Tuesday evening. Not much to note here. Amanda got her work done and I got a few things ready for when Matt arrived.
We stayed at a Days Inn on Tuesday evening. Amanda and I needed a bit of rest and a shower. And Matt was coming in late so heading straight to the park wasn’t really an option. The first room we checked into was kind of a mess. But we got the room changed and it was good enough for us for the evening.
On Wednesday morning we drove into Tacoma and dropped Amanda off there. She wasn’t coming into the park with us and instead was renting an AirBnB for a couple of days. She had to get some work done and we figured it’d be best for Matt and me to go back into the park by ourselves.
We ran some errands and then started driving toward the park. We stopped off at Alder Lake Park and did a bit of fishing. Didn’t catch anything but the lake and the views of Rainier were great. I also learned about the differences between poison ivy and blackberry vine. They look super similar. Some useful knowledge there.
We got into the park in the mid-afternoon and checked into the campsite. Not the best site to be fair. A bit small and the parking area was on a decline. But we moved a few things around and we made it work.
There is a short hike right near the campground and we decided to go for it in the late afternoon. You cross the river and then it is about a mile walk to a waterfall.
The river was flowing pretty hard and we had to cross over this makeshift bridge constructed from an old log. If you fell in you were done for. You could see how large the river swells in the spring when the snow runs off. The water must be so powerful. Logs are just thrown all over the place.
The next day was the big day. We drove over to the west side of the park and we completed the trek up to the Gobbler’s Knob fire lookout. It was about 12 miles total and roughly 2,500 feet in elevation gain. So it was a fairly large hike. Matt did great considering that he had only a few days to adjust to the elevation.
The view from the lookout was stunning and it was cool to just check out the fire lookout. They used it to spot forest fires before airplanes were common. Two rangers would stay up there and take turns spotting.
We met a man on the way down and we had a conversation with him about the mind and consciousness. He is a neuroscientist and the conversation was very interesting. I didn’t agree with everything that he had to say but I definitely learned a few things and gained a different perspective. That’s what conversation is all about.
Friday was our last day in the park and Matt and I did the Skyline Trail. It’s by far the best trail in the park so I didn’t mind doing it twice. There must have been a forest fire in the area because the sky was very hazy and we couldn’t see very far from the viewpoints. But still a fun experience for Matt.