Giant Patriarchs and Silver Falls

Suspension bridge over Ohanapecosh River

Enough rain!  What did we expect, coming to the Pacific Northwest? Started raining Saturday night and continued until yesterday morning.  Not hard rain like Ohio gets, just a gentle rain - Dave said on Tuesday the rain looks like snow.  You can see it come in waves, sometimes heavy continuous rain, then soft drizzle.  Saw Mt. Rainier on Saturday - and now beginning to think that that was our only shot at seeing it while we are here!  Yesterday morning we said, enough! decided to go hiking in the rain.  Headed back to the Stevens Canyon entrance of Mt. Rainier on the eastern side to two hikes we wanted to do - one was the Grove of the Patriarchs and the second was the Silver Falls hike.  We could park at one and be able to hike both from the same spot (parking is limited there).

Giant Cedars and Douglas Firs

The Grove hike meanders along the Ohanapecosh (Oh - hahn - ah - peh - cosh:  love to say that!!) River following a well worn, delightful scenic trail.  Came to a one-person suspension bridge over the river which swayed as you walked across it, but so very cool!, and continued on to the Grove. I wanted to feel how cold the water was from the river and about froze off my fingers - this river is the result of a glacier melting and therefore was almost a pale blue color (the sign of a glacier runoff).  These trees are over 1000 years old, enormous, and even though you saw many fallen dead trees covered in moss, the dead trees had smaller trees growing out of them.  Life from death.  Just an amazing thing to see this forest.   Very idyllic, very humbling being around these Patriarchs.

The park has done a great job identifying the trees you were looking at, telling the ecology, the age and history of how and why the trees look like they do and how the Indians used the tree for clothes, medicines, tools, etc.

Bridges over creeks

Lush greenery, idyllic waterfall

Silver Falls

After the Grove we crossed the road to the Silver Falls Trail head and again walked through very old growth trees/forest.  Trickle of a spring passing by, birds tweeting, very very moist and humid from all the rain, and the smells!  About 3/4 mile along we started to hear the Ohanapecosh River getting louder - the bounding of waterfalls. A cascade of falls down to the deep drop of the main break and the park has placed overlooks and a wooden bridge over it to get the best views. The cascading waterfalls, spray, lush greenery, huge boulders, the mist rising from the water, sunlight trying to come through the canopy, and the noise of the water rushing over - just awesome to see and hear and feel.  We went through starting out being comfortable (had jackets on) to being warm from the walk (only 60 degrees) to being quite chilled from the low temperature of the water, to comfortable again, then back to being warm from the hike back.  Not only a scenic beauty to the eyes but a sensory feel from the moisture, warmth, humidity and coolness.Very lovely walk.  To heck with the rain - still had a great day.

Tipsoo Lake

The day was still young (1:45pm) we decided to drive up the eastern side of the park to where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses at Chinook Pass. The PCT transverses from Canada to Mexico through mostly the Cascade mountain range.  People typically start from the south and hike north which is good since this area in Washington is still under anywhere from 1 foot to 12 feet of snow! The Chinook Pass has only been open since the 16th and we guessed there was 8 feet of snow still on the ground right at the pass.  Obviously no hiking can be done now, but in another month - this area will be filled with hikers and day-use picnickers.  The fog and mist from the melting snow and the gentle rainfall was amazing to see and feel. Stopped at an ice covered Tipsoo Lake at the Pass and was amazed at how blue it was - just beautiful!  Found out that in the summer months this lake is one of the most photographed lakes in the country - Mt. Rainier is typically reflected in this lake - would like to come back here on a clear day to see this again.