Wild fires are beginning to be more prevalent with a large one now burning NE of Spokane, not far off our route a few days back. Before we came away we were aware that in previous years, large areas we have been travelling have been closed due to fires or had visibility reduced to nil due to smoke. Indeed, just about everywhere has displayed signs of passed fires in recent and more distant years. We are thankful that we have been lucky enough to escape any wild fire impact on this trip.
So, we pack and head off again, initially across the road to a large retail park, an alien sight after Wyoming and Montana, to the bank for an ATM and to Subway for a lunchtime sandwich. Our server in Subway was a young Indian (Asian) girl living in West Coast USA and intending travelling Southern Europe; what a wonderful world.
On the plains we encounter sweetcorn being farmed for the first time. That would be a weird this to say in the Mid West where there is little else for hundreds of miles.
We join interstate I5 with three lanes of traffic. The only motorbikes we've seen in the last two thousand miles have been cruisin' Harley Davidsons and Honda Goldwings but for the first time we see Yamahas and more sports type bikes, though still very few.
Looking to the East, the hills we have left behind are now just faint shadows in the murky air. Trapped between the Pacific Ocean and the the Cascade range the air is moist and unclear.
Our room last night was at the back of the building and, several miles out, I realise the room key is still in my pocket having forgotten to drive around the front and checkout. Fortunately just a programmable card key and a phone call to the hotel checked us out and put our minds at rest.
Our route took us by housing estates and business parks and we ran along busy 5 lane urban highways then, South of Seattle, down 5 to 3 to 1 lane wide and into tree lined country roads (still the width of a UK trunk road).
In the distance we saw our first vague siting of Mount Rainier, just a very faint white outline against the pale sky but it looked big and snowy.
We arrived at the northern entrance road to Sunrise around 12:30 and hit the back of a 1 hour 15 minutes queue to gate.
After entering, everyone was told, "wait 1 minute", before driving off which, though frustrating, did work very well and we were relieved to drive the park roads free of traffic. We had worried that the queue continued all the way through the Park itself.
The road was tall tree lined making it like driving down a gorge but in the gap ahead was a big lump of mountain. Mount Rainier is a volcano, apparently still classified as 'active', and as we drove higher we wondered if a distant peak was Mount Saint Helens which disrupted much of the Northern Hemisphere with is explosive eruption back in 1980. (p.s. It wasn't, it was Mt. Adams but we did see Mt St Helens next day)
We stoppdd at one point to admire the hexagonal rock structures created when lava cooled super fast on contact with the edge of a glacier.
I complained of being disappointed at some aspects of Glacier and North Cascades National Parks but I am gob-smacked and amazed at Mount Rainier so far. The route up is a constant feast for the eyes of stunning mountain, snow and glacier. The snow cap on the mountain itself from this side looks as it icing sugar has been poured over the top.
At 3:25 we arrive at Sunrise, the summit of the road and highest point in the Park to drive to and, surprisingly, parked easily. I guess by now on a Sunday afternoon people are already heading home.
We had a couple of options for a short walk the first down hill to a view across to the glacier and the 'silver forest' which we abandoned after the view point. The other, heading up above the car park had looked a bit too easy and touristy but was actually a lovely walk with lots of alpine meadow flowers and a gorgeous ridge walk at the top with wonderful wide views.
We left Sunrise just after 5pm and headed out of the Park. Existing the gate we timed the three minutes it took to drive what had earlier been the 1hr 15min queue!
The forest was side lit by low sun and the trees glowed as we headed to our destination arriving at Packwood at 6:15.
I had been getting a bit panicky earlier as my calculations on fuel had gone awry with queueing and then climbs which were delivering 10mpg. I had gone from a comfortable 80 miles down to 30 miles to empty with 34 miles left to the hotel. Fortunately the downhill out of the Park meant I had enough to get to Packwood but it was a relief to see a gas station across the road from our hotel.
Another great lodging courtesy of Lynne's research. The Cowlitz River Lodge has had a recent revamp and is very comfortable and highly recommendable contrary to some older Tripadvisor reviews.
We wandered down in a pleasant balmy evening to Josie's Family Restaurant, a new Italian pasta bar/ cafe and enjoyed a relaxed meal with a couple of beers.
A little way up the street, the local community was arriving with camping chairs and setting up outside a closed coffee shop which apparently is an occasional thing, our host described it as a 'fireside'.
After we headed down to see what was going on and the next hour was a delight in the now dark evening joining the residents of "little Packwood" as a girl we chatted with described it, listening to Steve McDonald performing largely Scottish music accompanied skillfully and entertainingly on a variety of instruments. Sadly we took no cameras or phones as it was a great sight. The events are generously hosted by the owner of the coffee shop using the boarded outside area as a stage.
Our holiday seemed to come full circle as we stamped along with the Proclaimers' 500 miles having seen them live in the UK the weekend before we came away.
We returned very contented with a great day and evening behind us to our hotel around 10. A fantastic way to run into the final day of our journey tomorrow.
Today's route:
Statistics: Miles today: 197; Miles so far: 3062; Fuel added so far: 110.75 US gals; States: Washington ; Time Zone: Pacific (UK -8)
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love your comments as it shows someone out there is reading it.
All comments are moderated so you won't see it immediatly.
Thank you for stopping by, Lynne & Ged