August 16, 2017 - Wednesday
This is the second part of our trip to national parks in the west. We left TRNP about 8:00 am. It was very foggy until we got to the interstate. We dumped the trailer holding tanks at an RV park in Medora, because Cottonwood Campground has no dump station. We drove I94 west all the way to the Big Timber / Greycliffe KOA where we spent the night. We saw 3 deer before leaving TRNP and about 12 pronghorn in Montana. The KOA was nice and very clean, but was very close to the interstate and some train tracks. Very loud!
August 17, 2017 - Thursday
We left camp about 9:00 and drove to Beavertail Hill State Park in Montana. We saw lots of pronghorn before we had lunch at a Wendy's in Butte. Beavertail Hill State Park is next to I90 and train tracks. The train is not as loud as the one at Big Timber, so really didn't bother us. This park has electricity, flush toilets, but not water hookups. There have been wildfires all around Montana making it very smokey with lots of ash falling. Glad for electric, so that we don't have to breath the ash and smoke from the fires.
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| Entry to park |
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Clark Fork River
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August 18, 2017 - Friday
We slept in today and decided to have a lazy day. It was really cool this morning. After breakfast, we hiked the 1 mile nature trail and hiked up the road out of the park over the bridge on the river to a river access point. In all we walked about 2 miles. After that we cleaned the trailer and basically had a lazy day. We did see a Meriman turkey while sitting around camp. It got very smokey with a lot of ash falling later in the evening so we ended up staying in the trailer.
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| View of Beavertail Hill SP from bridge over river |
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| Clark Fork River |
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| Mike by the river |
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| Train bridge next to the campground |
August 19, 2017 - Saturday
We left camp about 8:45 and took I90 west until we got to Liberty, Washington where we bought groceries at an Albertsons. I90 goes through Montana and the panhandle of Idaho and into Washington. In Montana, we crossed the Clark Fork River about a dozen times. At one point I saw 3 deer in the river. In Idaho we drove through some pretty rugged, steep mountains. After buying groceries we drove city streets to the Spokane KOA where we are spending the night. It is next to train tracks like the last 2 places we camped, but not the interstate. I washed clothes, then we had dinner and called it a night. This KOA is okay, but not as clean as the one in Big Timber.
August 20, 2017 - Sunday
We got up early, put on coffee, and took showers. We like staying in national park campgrounds, but most of them do not have showers so we needed to get clean before heading to Mount Rainier. We left the KOA at about 8:45 heading west on I90. After leaving Spokane, we drove through the Columbia Basin by lots of cropland. A section of the road had signs telling what crop was in each field. We found that very interesting. Around lunch time there was a scenic pullover overlooking the Columbia River. We stopped, hiked the short trail to the viewpoint, and ate lunch. There were lots of volcanic rocks due to ancient lava flows. The Columbia River is huge.
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| View of the river with volcanic flows in background |
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| Crossing the river |
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| The Columbia River bridge |
We left I90 west, getting on I82 east for a while before getting on Hwy. 12 north for about 50 miles. Hwy 12 is a curvy, 2 lane highway that went over a mountain at White Pass. It was very busy because Hwy 410 over Chinook Pass was closed due to a fire. Hwy 12 went by a large lake and through national forest areas with lots of campgrounds. There were some very good views of Mount Adams before we turned off on Hwy 123 that goes into the park.
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| View from the highway |
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| Mount Adams |
We stayed in Ohanaceposh Campground at the foot of Mount Rainier National Park for 4 nights. The campground gets its name from the Ohanaceposh River which runs through the middle of the campground. Our campsite is next to a small stream that runs into the river. It's a nice, large campsite. The campground was full and was a little loud at first because some of our neighbors were playing loud music, but that stopped before long.
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| Entering Mount Ranier National Park |
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| View of our campsite |
In addition to the the river, the campground has very tall trees. The campsite has a table, grill, and food locker and the facilities include flush toilets, good water, but no electric or hookups. We fixed tacos for dinner after walking to the river and around the campground. The evening became cool, perfect for sleeping.
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| Ohanaceposh River |
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| Another view of the river |
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| Trees at the back of our campsite |
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| Really tall trees |
August 21, 2017 - Monday
Eclipse day! I got up around 7; Mike got up a while later. After breakfast we got our eclipse glasses that we shared and headed to the bridge. The eclipse had just started when we got there. Quite a few people were already there. The maximum coverage occurred around 10:20 and was about 94%. We stayed at the bridge area watching until about 10:30. It was fascinating, not just watching the eclipse, but seeing the shadows on the ground and in the water reflect the change. It also got noticeably cooler. A fun experience and we only had to walk from where we were camped to enjoy it.
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| Watching the eclipse |
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| Mike taking his turn with the glasses |
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| Eclipse shadows on the ground |
When we returned to our campsite we decided to eat an early lunch so that we could go hiking before it got too warm. We hiked the Silver Falls trail up the mountain 1.3 miles to the falls and back down the other side of the loop for a total of about 2.7 miles. The hike passed a hot springs through the spruce forest and was interesting.
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| Beginning of Silver Falls Trail |
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| Hot springs beside the trail |
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| Interesting roots |
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| Mike on the trail |
We crossed over Laughing Waters Creek shortly before getting to the falls. The falls are beautiful. We left the falls area and the trail continued up for a while before heading down and back to the campground.
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| Laughing Waters Creek |
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| Ohanaceposh River and Silver Falls |
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| Silver Falls |
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| Trail going down into the campground |
The insects here were not bad other than when we are cooking or eating. The yellow jackets were attracted to any meat, so we ate in the trailer.
August 22, 2017 - Tuesday
After sleeping in, we had breakfast and headed to the visitor's center by 9:00. We got maps and information about hiking then drove up 123 north to the Stephen's Canyon entrance to the park. We drove Stephen's Canyon Road into the park. This is a curvy, narrow, steep, but spectacular drive. There were several sheer drop offs where I had to either look the other way or close my eyes. Good thing Mike was driving! We drove up the road until we got to Box Canyon. A glacial stream has made this canyon, which at one point, is 180 feet deep. Just solid rock straight down then the water. We hiked a 1/2 mile trail through rocks smoothed down by a glacier and over the canyon on a bridge.
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| View into Box Canyon |
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| Mike looking down into the canyon from the bridge |
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| Another view into the canyon |
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| A view of the road we are driving on |
We continued on until we got to Reflection Lake. The view of the mountain was excellent.
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| View of Mount Rainier at Reflection Lake |
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| Mike with the lake and mountain in the background |
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| Mary by the lake |
When finished at the lake we continued up until we reached Paradise where there is an inn, ranger station, visitor center, and hiking trails. The views of Mount Rainier are beautiful from here. We were fortunate to have a clear, sunny day. The parking lot was very crowded. We found a spot that was actually labeled for inn guests, but it didn't seem to matter. We had pizza for lunch in the visitor's center then hiked the 1.2 mile trail to Mertel Falls. We wanted to hike a trail to a glacier viewpoint, but that trail was closed for work. The paved trail to Mertel Falls goes through meadows with lots of wildflowers. The falls were also pretty.
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| Paradise sign |
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| John Muir Quote on steps |
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| Field of wild flowers |
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| With the falls and mountain behind us |
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| Mertel Falls |
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| Flowers that look like trufula trees |
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| View from top of Mertal Falls |
After the hike we watched a video about Mount Rainier in the visitor's center then shared some yogurt. We walked through some of the exhibits in the visitor's center then headed out. It was getting very crowded at Paradise, so we headed back down the mountain, stopping at a view point for one last view. The mountain was beginning to get fog covered.
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| Parking was becoming very scarce at Paradise |
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| One last mountain view - foggy |
When we got down the road we decided to drive into Packwood to get gas and try and get cell service. There was road construction which made the short trip take a lot longer. We did get gas, but no ATT cell service in that town. We got back to camp and I made chili for dinner. It was good even if the weather was the warmest it has been here. We sat out until dark, then called it a night.
August 23, 2017 - Wednesday
Got up and around and drove to the Grove of the Patriarchs. We got there at about 9:30 and it was already crowded. Before I got out of the car I noticed signs of mice (shredded tissues and droppings - yuck). Creeped us out. We went ahead and did the 1-1/2 mile hike through the old growth Western Cedars and Douglas Fir. Impressive!
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| Mike crossing the swinging bridge |
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| Mike in front of a really large root system |
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| Mary in front of some large cedars |
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| In front of the really big cedar |
When we finished with our hike we went straight back to our campsite to clean our car out. The mice had gotten into a bag that contained about a quart of trail mix (granola, sunflower seeds, M&M's, raisins) and had taken all of it - other than the raisins. We completely cleared out the car, swept it out, put all food into the bear box and reloaded the car. Mike stopped by the visitor's center on our way to Lake Tipsoo. The ranger told him that we had been invaded with white footed deer mice. We will not leave any more food in our car. We drove back up Hwy 123 until we got to Hwy 410 then headed east to Lake Tipsoo. We had a picnic lunch there then did a 1/2 mile hike around the lake. There were pretty views of Mount Rainier, but it was cloudy so not as good as the views yesterday.
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| Lake Tipsoo |
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| Mount Rainier - kind of cloudy |
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| Another view of the lake |
After our hike, we drove 12 miles to White Pass to get cell service and checkin with family. Lots of road construction to sit through. We cleaned up the trailer to get ready to leave in the morning. We had left over chili for dinner then called it a night. Other than the mouse invasion, we really enjoyed our stay at Ohanapecosh.
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| View up through trees behind camp |
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| One last picture of Mount Rainier |
