just another day in Paradise
Sep. 4th, 2010 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmegaeraAs ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coalboy says, I spend far more time than most non-employees in our national parks. I'd been up to Mt. Rainier four or five times this summer, but not to Paradise. The weather was gorgeous on Thursday (upper 70sF at sea level, lots of sunshine), so I decided to rectify this omission.
My first stop once inside the park was at Christine Falls.
This is only the bottom half of the falls -- the falls make sort of a lefthand turn just above the bridge, so you can only see one half of them at a time.
After that, I drove on up to Paradise with only one other stop, to take a picture of a rather odd cloud formation. Okay, this looks like a con trail:
But it was a) way too wide to be even an old con trail, and b) one of about three or four almost identical stripes across the sky, even though you can't see them from this photo. I have no idea what caused this, but it was interesting.
When I got to Paradise itself, I decided to walk the Nisqually Vista trail. Nisqually as in Nisqually Glacier, although the headwaters of the Nisqually River are here, too. Given that it was the second of September, I was surprised to see as many wildflowers as I did:
The tall thing with the white cluster on the end is beargrass. The blue is lupine. The barely visible dark pink/magenta is paintbrush. The white is mostly mountain bistort. The trees are true alpine firs, which smell absolutely incredible, fresh and clean and resiny.
Here's a view of the Mountain from the trail:
And here's something called green hellebore, which looks sort of like corn without the actual cobs:
The goal at the end of the trail:
The snout of the Nisqually Glacier and the headwaters of the Nisqually River flowing from its base, taken with zoom. Even given how far away it is, the roaring of the river is more than audible from the viewpoint.
Above and to the left of the glacier is this lovely little hanging waterfall:
I don't know if it has a name.
After I walked back to my car, I decided to stick my head inside the Paradise Inn. It's sort of Mt. Rainier's answer to the Old Faithful Inn, and this is the lobby:
I thought about ice cream, but my purse was in the trunk of my car.
After I left Paradise, I stopped at Cougar Rock Campground (the picnic area was closed due to regraveling of the road) to eat a very late lunch and write a bit. I was deeply engrossed when something attacked my shoe! I could feel the pecking clear through the leather. I jerked back, and an extremely irate Steller's jay shot up to the nearest tree. I guess he was looking for food, but he lectured me at length about nearly giving him heart failure (at least that's what it sounded like -- Steller's jays have a very strong command of invective). I was tempted to let him know that he'd done just about the same to me.
Even if I hadn't finished my lunch I wouldn't have been inclined to share after that!
coalboy says, I spend far more time than most non-employees in our national parks. I'd been up to Mt. Rainier four or five times this summer, but not to Paradise. The weather was gorgeous on Thursday (upper 70sF at sea level, lots of sunshine), so I decided to rectify this omission.My first stop once inside the park was at Christine Falls.
This is only the bottom half of the falls -- the falls make sort of a lefthand turn just above the bridge, so you can only see one half of them at a time.
After that, I drove on up to Paradise with only one other stop, to take a picture of a rather odd cloud formation. Okay, this looks like a con trail:
But it was a) way too wide to be even an old con trail, and b) one of about three or four almost identical stripes across the sky, even though you can't see them from this photo. I have no idea what caused this, but it was interesting.
When I got to Paradise itself, I decided to walk the Nisqually Vista trail. Nisqually as in Nisqually Glacier, although the headwaters of the Nisqually River are here, too. Given that it was the second of September, I was surprised to see as many wildflowers as I did:
The tall thing with the white cluster on the end is beargrass. The blue is lupine. The barely visible dark pink/magenta is paintbrush. The white is mostly mountain bistort. The trees are true alpine firs, which smell absolutely incredible, fresh and clean and resiny.
Here's a view of the Mountain from the trail:
And here's something called green hellebore, which looks sort of like corn without the actual cobs:
The goal at the end of the trail:
The snout of the Nisqually Glacier and the headwaters of the Nisqually River flowing from its base, taken with zoom. Even given how far away it is, the roaring of the river is more than audible from the viewpoint.
Above and to the left of the glacier is this lovely little hanging waterfall:
I don't know if it has a name.
After I walked back to my car, I decided to stick my head inside the Paradise Inn. It's sort of Mt. Rainier's answer to the Old Faithful Inn, and this is the lobby:
I thought about ice cream, but my purse was in the trunk of my car.
After I left Paradise, I stopped at Cougar Rock Campground (the picnic area was closed due to regraveling of the road) to eat a very late lunch and write a bit. I was deeply engrossed when something attacked my shoe! I could feel the pecking clear through the leather. I jerked back, and an extremely irate Steller's jay shot up to the nearest tree. I guess he was looking for food, but he lectured me at length about nearly giving him heart failure (at least that's what it sounded like -- Steller's jays have a very strong command of invective). I was tempted to let him know that he'd done just about the same to me.
Even if I hadn't finished my lunch I wouldn't have been inclined to share after that!
