She'll be comin' 'round the mountain

Mt. Rainier Hiking Expedition circa 1930s.

We made it to Rainier last Saturday and had a great time. We didn't go on the glaciers like the pic above, but I thought it was so cool I had to pass it along. I came across this GREAT site - and if you love old photographs, you should check it out. It's the National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection. And you can search by theme, park, year.

Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day. We started out late in the day, 1:00pm because Rich was out on a boy scout campout.

We saw this momma dear and her fawn. The fawn was too shy and kept hiding from my camera.

Usually when we go to Rainier we hike The Grove of the Patriarchs. Which I love. A beautiful hike that a one-year old who likes to walk can do. But this time we decided to venture out and try some new hikes. I'm so glad we did!

We did the Nisqually Vista trail. At about 1.5 miles, plus a little extra because the trail head wasn't where we thought it was, it was a perfect distance that we got some exercise without tiring out little Josie. There were some uphills, but it's paved the whole way, strollers would be doable, and maybe a wheelchair if you had someone really strong pushing it.

There were gorgeous flowers and meadows and then the path led down to the cliffs, where you could look out across the canyon and see the Nisqually Glacier and White River.

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It was beautiful. - We're kinda covering up the view here, but we're cute too so that's okay.

We also did 0.7 mi at the Longmire, Trail of Shadows. There is a 1920s cabin and mineral springs bubbling up from the earth. I didn't have my camera :( and we didn't have time for the museum. So I plan to go again when I can browse the museum.

We ended it all with a picnic at Longmire and a peaceful drive home because the kids all fell asleep from the warm sunny hikes.