Left Mount Baker several days ago. Stopped in Mount Vernon to pick up the laptop. Paid $60 to find out there is nothing wrong with it, probably just dirty contacts.
Drove across WA-20 to North Cascades National Park. Smoke has blown over from the Glacier National Park fire that's been burning for more than a month. Air quality was pretty bad so I headed out without doing anything. I did check out Ross Lake. If it's anything like Diablo Lake right below it, it will be great for a multi-day trip. See logistics for more info.
Drove straight across WA-20 to Lake Chelan. The issue here is overnight parking. I just checked out one state park before I left and they wanted $10 per night. They can shove that but I don't know if that will be lowered or eliminated with an annual state pass.
So here I am at Mount Rainier. Stopped at Yakima for some shopping but the temperatures were headed for the mid-90's so I got my sorry old butt out of there. I'm headed for Mount St. Helen's but will stop here for the weekend.
09/06/03 Hiking Skyline Trail Loop(8+ miles):
Someone told me it was in the 80's yesterday so I wanted to be near the glaciers to avoid more of the same today. Paradise has many short trails interconnecting above the upper parking lot. I chose the Skyline Trail, mainly because it was the longest.
Most of the trails head up a single paved walkway that is quite steep. More than 1/2 mile later it finally turned to dirt. Mount Rainier is staring you in the face the entire way. I stayed on the Skyline Trail and eventually found myself at Panorama Point after climbing 1400 feet. Nice views of multiple peaks and ranges in the distance. Also a good view of all the smoke blowing over from Montana and one fire of our own 20-30 miles away.
The rest of the Skyline Trail Loop didn't look to exciting so I turned off on the Upper Skyline Trail. Then I was on the Peebles Creek Trail after another 400 feet. Here the trail began following individual snow packs upwards and then my legs gave out.
Everywhere I went today was under several feet of snow when I was here in early June. I have to say I much prefer Mount Baker to Mount Rainier.
09/10/03:
Tried the north side (WA-504) of Mount St. Helen's but nothing but fog. The next day tried the south side (WA-503) with the same results plus a lot of rain. The 3rd day I tried the Columbia River Gorge and more rain and fog,