Day 18 – Mt. Rainier National Park

Mt. Rainier

Today was the first of two back-to-back days at national parks. We were extremely lucky that when we got to Mt. Rainier it was a bright and sunny day. Many visitors come to the park and never get to see the mountain, but not us. There was even a chance of showers in the afternoon but that never materialized so we had beautiful weather for the whole time we were at the park. The parking lot was totally full at the visitor center but after circling a bit we even lucked into a decent parking spot. We took a short hike up to Myrtle Falls and the alpine scenery was magnificent.

Alpine trails at Mt. Ranier

Mt. Rainier, in case you didn’t know, is the tallest mountain in Washington and tallest in the entire Cascade Mountain range. We also learned that Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. This is because it is still an active volcano (last eruption was 1894) and with the amount of glacial ice it has on top, a new eruption could potentially produce massive lahars (basically a mixture of mud, water and debris) that would threaten about 200,000 people. Odds are that it is just a matter of time before it happens again.

Washington State Capitol (Olympia)

After our time at Mt. Rainier, we drove to Lacey, WA, and had dinner in nearby Olympia, which, of course, is another state capital. 

Cioppino

The guy at our hotel recommended the Oyster House in Olympia for dinner and it was fantastic. It was our first real shot at Pacific Northwest seafood and it didn’t disappoint. Yum.