After leaving Idaho, we headed northwest to Baker, Oregon and camped in the beautiful Umatilla National Forest, west of town. This place was pretty wild, with baby deer running around, and (ANOTHER) skunk was leaving it's scent in the area. Reggae still had skunk stink lingering on him from Wyoming... The dogs are watchful of our campgrounds, and keep the animals in check!
The next day we woke up and hit the road for Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.
I bought Brady this guide once for Christmas. It's a mini leather bound book of maps for all the National Parks in the U.S. with info on wildlife, trails, and general tips. Jazz tore it up when she was a pup, but it's still been doing us some good!
Almost there!
Mount Rainier in the background! Elevation 14,409 ft. We recently heard on NPR that, although dormant now, Mount Rainier is a volcano that will erupt again one day, and when it does, all the glacier ice on it's summit will go flying to destroy much of Seattle! They said it could happen in a matter of months, or 100 years from now... no need to worry too much Seattleites!!
Cuddle time!
Made it to the Park entrance! We spent the next couple of days hiking around some very large trees and looming above was the tallest mountain in Washington. This area of the country is absolutely beautiful! Tall pine forests, mixed with old growth rain forests make the whole scene eerily quiet.
That tree goes up for at least another 200 ft.!
We had to cross a suspension bridge on our hike that warned a one person limit. We decided we're pretty small, so we went at the same time...We stayed dry!
Clinging tight to the cable! Brady, always a boy at heart, had to swing the bridge as I crossed making me very uneasy...
Big trees!
Bigger Mountain
Breathtaking meadows of wildflowers in an area known as Paradise
All kinds of crazy fungus and mushroom life grows on the forest floor!
Giant Twin Western Hemlocks, we are so small.
We enjoyed camping and relaxing in Rainier National Park for a couple of days and nights, then decided to head on up to the northwest corner of the lower 48. Next stop, Olympic National Park!
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