Early Morning at Mt. Ranier

We had left our cabin before daylight to drive into the Mt. Ranier park to be able to see the mountain at first light. In the dawning light we hiked upward toward Panorama Point. Here Brenda is high on the trail with a viewpoint toward the Ranier peak. August 19.

Our walk was from the Paradise parking area.

We hiked to this point. It is hard to believe that the peak is at 14,410 ft, still well over a mile above our heads!

Brenda at Panorama Point. At this time of the morning it was just us, the animals, and a handful of climbers who were headed for the peak.

The view back to the south from our location up on the slopes of Mt. Ranier. This was a relatively flat area above the woods and steep slopes we had come up. The view includes the mountain ridge to the south and Mt. Baker in the distance.

This long telephoto shot shows the ravaged peak of Mt. St. Helens sticking up in the distance.

We climbed up to the edge of the rugged ice fields. The glaciers were not particularly beautiful, but they were interesting.

We enjoyed our furry companions of the early morning.

Looking back in the direction we had come, we had a good view of Mt Baker to the south.

Standing here on its side, the peak of Mt. Ranier looked very close. But we were only halfway up.

Brenda stands below a hillside of blue lupine. It was undoubtedly more spectacular in the spring, but it was very nice now.

This little valley was dotted with indian paint brush, and this marmot seemed fond of munching on it.

We had a lot of fun watching the marmots. They paid very little attention to us.

This view is close to Panorama Point; we spent some time in the area just enjoying the morning. August 19, 1993

A little further down we enjoyed the meadows with flowerw. We could still get a glimpse of Mt. Baker over the mountain tops to the south.

After our early morning walk up to the glacier viewpoint, starting at daylight, we spend some time at the visitor center and then decided to take a more leisurely walk through the flowers lower on the mountain. Beside our path was a collection of wildflowers, including a lot of blue lupine. People told us that there were whole meadows almost solid blue with it in the spring. August 19, 1993

As we made our way up the mountain, we got a clear view of gleaming Mt. Baker to the south. It is another of the major volcanic peaks of the area.

This marmot, out for a bit of morning sun, was one of our companions along the trail.

Since Rod was always getting sidetracked by marmots and such, Brenda got way ahead on the trail.

This marmot was just hanging out in the flowers, munching away at them.

I was surprised to see flowers this colorful on what looked like a cedar tree.

This grouse was so well camoflaged that I might have walked by without seeing her if she hadn't moved.

This was an exhilirating early morning walk on the nice trail with all the flowers and animals, and with the gleaming peak of Mt. Ranier above us.

As the sun rose higher, Mr. Ranier became dazzling white above us.

We stopped at the visitor center on the way out to see the model of the mountain. We had traveled the roads at the bottom of the model and climbed up the side of the mountain at about the midpoint of this view.