Seattle WA to Ashford WA
GREETINGS FROM MT RAINIER,
Washington (WA) – Ashford to be precise !
We left Seattle this morning bright and early – a theme you will undoubtedly pickup throughout our trip – and after breakfast we picked up our car just up the street from our hotel and hit the road !
After two warm, sunny days in Seattle, it was cloudy and had been raining overnight. So Mt Rainier – or certainly the top half – was going to remain a mystery for us behind a shroud of low cloud. Well probably not all that “low” given the mountain is over 14,000 feet high (Mt Kosciuszko, for example, is half the height of Mt Rainier).
From our hotel, we headed across town to a spot on Lake Washington, Seward Park, where we could get our various gadgets setup – GPS, GoPro etc – as there is not much dawdling to be had in city streets in peak hour traffic. Seward Park is a lovely leafy suburban area and in clear weather would have had a nice view of the mountain. We are driving a relatively new, top of the range, Jeep Cherokee so there are plenty of plugs and sockets to keep all the gadgets going and charged.
All organised, we set off along the edge of the lake briefly then into the lower reaches of the mountains. The weather wasn’t too bad – certainly cloudy – but the occasional patches of blue and no rain. The drive was very picturesque, through thick fir forests which although there was evidence of extensive logging were still very thick. Washington is known as the “Evergreen State” and very eco-friendly so I’m sure the logging is strictly controlled. Sections of the road followed river beds which were flowing very fast – not huge quantities of water but very fast. The width of the river beds beyond what is currently running and the significant amount and size of the debris indicates these rivers must really be a sight in the early part of summer when the winter thaw starts !
Our first major stop was to be the Sunrise Visitors Centre just inside the western entrance to the National Park. The mountain is so huge that there is really no way over by car/road so any access roads into the park are basically same way in and out. With the weather the way it was we certainly didn’t expect to see much of the top of the mountain. But the drive in still took us to over 6,500 feet and we were able to get a look at the glaciers on the side of the mountain. And we certainly felt the drop in temperature ! Seattle had been in the low 20s when we left this morning but at the first lookout we stopped at just short of Sunrise, it had dropped to about 11 ! There was much scrabbling in the luggage to find warm clothes and jackets !!
Once at Sunrise Visitor Centre we headed off on a short trail to see what we could of the mountain and get some photos. By the time we got back our tummies were rumbling so we grabbed some sandwiches at the snack bar and warmed ourselves by the heater.
Then it was on to the next part of the park with major access. Whereas Sunrise is on the western side of the mountain, Paradise, the next stop, is more on the southern side. And for those who have always dreamed of going to Paradise ? – it is a bit cold and cloudy !
We also went to visit the Lodge here. Like others we have seen or stayed at, it is classic American high roof, huge wooden log construction with huge fireplaces at either end. We had intended to stay there however for weekends they required a 2 night minimum booking – so we are actually staying just out of the park.
Back to the car we didn’t have far to go but stopped at another couple of scenic outlooks where waterfalls or wild river flows came off or gouged through the mountain.
We arrived at our stop for the night about 4.30pm. We are staying at a little place called Ashford at Nisqually Lodge. It is a simple hotel but nice rooms. They have no restaurant so the owners recommended a couple of options just back down the way we came about 3 or 4 miles.
We decided on a place called “Wild Berry”. It looked a little different and certainly was ! The owners seemed to be a Nepalese family and whilst the menu contained the usual american fare, they also had a Nepalese option which we tried called Thali. It was really delicious.
But as expected, the internet here in the “back country” is pretty terrible so uploading the blog and photos has been a bit of a problem.