Today, we drove a little further out, to Longmire near Mount Rainier, to hike the Rampart Ridge Loop trail. This is another easy trail with a total length of 5.28 miles and elevation gain of 1,456 feet (if you return via the Wonderland trail as we did, instead of doubling back). The peace and quiet during the hike was absolutely worth the 2-hour drive it took us to get there. In fact, we encountered no one else during this hike except for a couple of people at the very end. I rather enjoyed this communion with nature, punctuated with conversations on random topics like speculative science.

Although, we were promised excellent views of Mount Rainier, we came across none, or perhaps we missed it behind the clouds. It’s ironic that Mount Rainier is ever present and easy to spot from Seattle and Bellevue, but much harder to find when we’re right at its foot.

The trail had a number of quaint little bridges over small streams, one of which seemed extremely rickety. The national park has some spectacular trees, and this trail is no exception.

I found some specimens of ‘Common Beargrass’ (xerophyllum tenax), ‘Devil’s Club’ (oplopanax horridus), and ‘Cascade Oregon-grape’ (berberis nervosa) along the way.

On the way back, we stopped at Narada Falls. This waterfall flows into the Paradise river, which runs parallel to the Nisqually river and eventually joins it.

The glorious Narada Falls, on the way to Paradise.

We got some coffee and soda at the Elbe Market Country Store. There are several statues of Bigfoot in front of and around the store. The light blue waters of Alder Lake by the road here was quite a sight to behold.