Hiking Lake Twentytwo and Mount Rainier National Park

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"My Annie Borton!" I said.
"No, my Annie Borton!" Marit argued.
"No, my Annie Borton!" I yelled. "She's my auntie Borton!"

Last weekend we hosted a good friend, Annie Borton. I love my Annie Borton and she drove up from Portland just to see me (and my mom and dad). She patiently hung out with us for over five hours in the car this weekend and spent even more time hiking with us in the mountains. She played with us and put up with my sister's toddler tantrums and my basically perfect listening and direction-following skills.
Lake Twentytwo in Mount Pilchuk State Park
Hiking Lake 22
On Saturday, we hiked to Lake Twentytwo in the North Cascades. Total distance: 5.4 miles roundtrip, 1350ft of elevation gain (the longest and steepest trail I've done on my own). It was a steady climb through an old growth forest then mountain rainforest with rocky outcroppings and scenic vistas and finally at the top was a big, beautiful alpine lake with snow on one side! I got to throw a lot of rocks, swim up to my belly button with Mommy, and slip-slide around in the snow. On the way back down, we stopped and played in Twentytwo Creek along with a few small waterfalls. On the drive back to Seattle, we stopped by Granite Falls and saw an old fish ladder, built in 1954 by blasting a 240 foot tunnel into the granite to allow salmon access to 30 miles of river above the falls. The river is no longer stocked but some naturally reproducing fish still make their return trip up the falls each year. In the spring, these falls are thunderous but the flows have dwindled with our 44 day without measurable rain this summer.

 On Sunday, we set our alarms and woke up early again to drive a few hours down to Mount Rainier National Park. We had not been to the Paradise Visitor Center on the southern side of the park and figured it was our last chance before we moved back to Minnesota to check it out. Our legs were a bit sore from the long hike the day before so we kept it to a few shorter hikes rather than another long hike. We saw some pretty waterfalls (Kristine Falls and Narada Falls), as well as lots of wildflowers and a great panoramic view of Mount Rainier and the blue Nisqually glacier at the headwaters of the Nisqually River. Next time I come back it might be totally gone! The hike was only 1.2 miles with 200 feet elevation gain but it felt like a lot longer! I slept most of the way home but woke up in time for dinner back in Seattle in the International District at Sichuan Cuisine and some blueberry bubble tea.

It was a perfect weekend with blue skies and not-too-hot temperatures. However, this week is a different story with possible triple digits temps on Thursday (last triple digit temp was 7/29/2009 when Molly Ann and Sara were visiting me in Seattle before I left for Peru). The meteorologist say that we have only hit 100 three times in 120 years of keeping records, which explains why fewer than 15% of homes in the Seattle area have air-conditioning (and no we are not in that 15%)! Thanks Annie Borton for coming to visit and stay cool! See you in Duluth!

Paradise entrance at Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier (it may be the last time we hike her for a long time...)
The start of the 1.2 mile Nisqually Vista Trail


More pics from Lake Twentytwo
Hiking along the rocky trail

Views of Whitehorse Mountain and Three Fingers

Lake Twentytwo


Snow in summer?!

Watch out, she's going to dump you in the snow!

Pushing Annie down the mountain

Theo helping Marit up the snow

Thirsty after a long hike (where she was carried 80% of the time)

Granite Falls salmon ladder and falls

Granite Falls carving out the rocks

Granite Falls

Granite Falls

Pics from the drive to Mount Rainier National Park


Watching the old Rainier steam train blow the whistle

Pretty cool!

Another old steam train

Kristine Falls in Mount Rainier National Park

Kristine Falls

Narada Falls in Mount Rainier National Park, can you spot the rainbow?

Avalanche lily

Hiking the Nisqually Vista Trail in Mount Rainier National Park

Avalanche lilies

Bear grass


Magenta paintbrush flowers along side aster, heather, lupine and lilies




Mount Rainier (in the clouds) and the Nisqually glacier. This glacier once filled in the whole valley below but over time it has receded and now the leading edge is currently the large gravel-covered mound near the top of the valley with meltwater washing over and eroding it.

Along the paved trail

View of the Tatoosh range from the hike

Tatoosh range


Ptarmigan mommy and about a dozen babies crossed the path

Annie and the mountain


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Comments

  1. JoAnnAugust 1, 2017 at 7:54 AM

    Oh the vistas and Mountains trails are beautiful!
    Glad Annie Borton came for a fabulous weekend.

    ReplyDelete

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