My train trip to the west coast

Don and I returned from our trip 2 days ago and it's taken that long to fix up the pics and take care of household things that needed attention after being gone for over a week.  So, today I can spend as much time as I like writing this post for you. 

I don't like to post when I'm traveling since I prefer to use a full sized keyboard rather than the smaller ones that are on my phone and Kindle, and what I suspected was true--there was no WiFi on the train--and there was no WiFi at the hotel in the mountain, so I couldn't have posted anything even if I'd wanted to. 

This post is picture heavy and I'll add captions to the photos describing what it is.  First of all, I don't have any pics of the train trip either going west or east. It's just a train, nothing to see here, folks.  Although I've traveled this route several times, from St. Paul, MN to Seattle and back, Don never had and I was a bit apprehensive about whether or not he'd like it. Other than being cold the two nights on the trip west, he really enjoyed it. (We picked up a couple of cheap fleece throws to cover up with on the return trip and that made all the difference.)  He's decided that he wants to travel by train to the Southwest in a year or so, but this time, he wants to go in a sleeper car rather than coach as we did this time. Just a bit more comfortable.

So, we got to Olympia, picked up the rental car and headed for Mt. Ranier. The day was glorious--clear, blue skies and the mountain was shining like a beacon.  I'd made reservations to stay 2 nights at Paradise Inn  (Here's a video from their website) where I'd stayed 25 years ago on my first trip to the mountain.  This lodge was built in 1916-17 in what is called, "National Park style"  and is made with huge logs cut on site and native rocks. Very beautiful and majestic. The modern annex was closed for renovations so our room was in the original building. It was like stepping back in time to the early 20th century when ladies wore corsets under their long dresses and gloves and huge hats were mandatory.  Our room looked out over a parking lot and onto the Tahoosh Mountains which are opposite Mt. Ranier.  

View from our room

In the main lodge where our room was, there are no private baths which I knew but wasn't sure how Don would react to this. He took it in stride and enjoyed the experience as I did. There are fluffy white terry robes and slippers for each of us in the room and the showers are private ones, and very clean.  There was a sink in the room so we didn't have to go to the communal bathroom to wash up which was nice.

Below is a picture of the piles of snow on the north side of the lodge. I guess there'd been quite a snowfall a few days before we arrived and this is what was left of it. Leave it to us Wisconsinites to travel to snow just before we get our long winter of snow back home!

After a great night sleep, preceded by a really good dinner in the Inn dining room, the day dawned clear and glorious again. Temps were predicted to be in the high 70's but in the higher elevations, who could tell.  I took this picture of the mountain as we saw it at the beginning of our hike.  

Don and I had planned on just hiking for an hour or two and we got a map from the ranger at the visitor's center. There were three levels of difficulty for the hikes and we thought we could do a moderately difficult one and, map in hand, we took off.

In the center of the picture you can see Don in his blue jeans and black jacket heading up the more rugged trail

The trail began as a paved path and soon became this rock strewn trail, with stone steps. Later on, it became even more rugged and by the time we reached the top of our trail and began the descent, it was nothing but rocks and boulders to climb over.  I had thought to bring the trekking pole I'd used when I'd had my Rt knee replaced a couple of years ago and I was so glad I had it with me.  On the way up the mountain, I had great difficulty catching my breath (It was the altitude, not my lack of fitness,  that's my story and I'm sticking with it!) and the pole helped me keep going upward.  On the descent, the pole helped me keep from keeling forward and falling downhill.  Next time, I'll take 2 poles because the people who had 2 poles did much better than I did with my one.

Okay, back to the hike.  Somewhere along the way, we missed the turn off to stay on the moderate trail, and when we realized what we'd done, we were too far along to turn back.  Below is Don and me at Panorama Point, about 6800 feet.  This is the point where my nephew and I turned back 20 years ago when I first hiked this mountain. At that time, the High Skyline was snow covered but this time it was not, so . . . 

We had a choice at this point to turn back and go down the trail we'd just hiked up, 1400 feet elevation gain, or to continue on the High Skyline trail which we found out later was another 400 feet higher.  Adventurers that we were, we continued!

At the edge of the glacier overlooking the Tatoosh Mountains

We had to get a picture of ourselves with Mt. Ranier in the background to prove to the kids that we really did do this! By this point, I'm beginning to think that I'm totally out of my mind for going on this hike. But nothing to do except carry on!

On the way down, which was more difficult than going up, I think, we saw some really cool things, like this little brook.  We saw the glacial melt at it's beginning, and ran into it several times more as we descended, each time the stream was getting bigger and bigger.  We even had to cross it a couple of times, balancing on the rocks, and twice more where bridges had been built.

Not a good picture, but this is Myrtle Falls, shortly before the end of the hike. You can see how this stream has become so big and I believe the river continues to grow as it goes down the mountain.

Don took a picture of this Alpine meadow in it's Autumn colors.  I've only been here in the fall and with luck, next summer I'll return and see it as the wild flowers are blooming. The meadows are at the lower elevations so the hiking won't be so strenuous--unless we take another wrong turn!

While most people can do this hike in 4 1/2 hours, we were a little slower and arrived back at the Inn 6 1/2 hours after we started out.  OMG!  I can't believe it!  Toward the end, my knees were so painful that I had to stop after every 3 or 4 steps and at one point, tears came to my eyes, but I couldn't let myself cry because I would get more dehydrated than I already was.  Yes, we didn't bring water with us, because we were only going out for an hour or two, but fellow hikers offered many times to share their water so it was okay.  I've learned a good lesson about hiking without food or water and I'll never repeat this again!

When I saw the Inn before me, I was so grateful!  I got inside as fast as I could hobble and hauled my self and my painful knees up the steps (no elevator!) to our room. While I drank several glasses of water, Don went to get two bags of ice for my knees. About an hour later, I was able to ambulate again.  After we'd showered and dressed, we met two of our fellow hikers on the way to the dining room and we all had dinner together. They are originally from Taiwan, living in LA now, and they were so delightful and interesting to be with. Don referred to them as our "mountain friends" and I hope to keep in touch with them. It was interesting that we had left them at Panorama Point where they were resting before returning down the trail while Don and I continued up the High Skyline, and when we were having dinner that night, they told us that they'd changed their minds and had followed us up the trail. "If they can do it, so can we!"  And they did it too, but it took them a little longer than us.  And they were a few years younger than us.  ;-)

The next morning we checked out of this beautiful peaceful place and wandered down the mountain.  The weather had become cloudy and drizzly and snow was forecast for the mountain, so we were really lucky that we'd hiked the day before. This is one of the waterfalls that we saw on the way down, which I believe also begins at the glacier and turns into this amazing sight.  It's Narada Falls, 176 feet high, and it was so beautiful.  

We also stopped at Longmire and the National Park Inn, had a wonderful lunch at Copper Creek Restaurant in Ashford, WA, and then made our way back to Olympia where we met our son and continued our vacation at his house.

On Sunday AM we boarded the train to Seattle and there was enough of a layover there for us to walk to Pike Place and the fish market which Don had never seen.  Again, we found a really good restaurant there and had a late lunch/early dinner before returning to the train station where we boarded at 4 pm and began the long journey home.  We got to St. Paul around 8 am Tuesday morning and were in our own house again before noon.  Our cat Clem was very happy that we'd returned and now he won't let either of us out of his sight!

So, that's the story of our remarkable (to us) stay at Mt. Ranier.  I can cross that off my bucket list and move on to something else.