Before we began our drive to the eastern side of the park, we hiked a trail from our hotel up the mountain to Myrtle Falls. It was early enough in the morning that we found some deer near the trail. Our hike began at about 5400 feet. The top of Mount Rainier is 14,411 feet. Myrtle Falls is beautiful, especially with Mount Rainier in the background
As we prepared to leave Myrtle Falls, we noticed another waterfall in the distance, higher up on Mount Rainier. Our walk down the trail reminded us that Mount Rainier is not the only gorgeous mountain view in the area.
We took one last view of Mount Rainier, as seen from Paradise, toward the end of our morning hike. We realized that we had started earlier in the day than planned, so we decided to return to Reflection Lake before heading east.
Our second trip to Reflection Lake was more fruitful than our first one. We got several great pictures of the lake and the reflection of the mountain. We also saw a couple of birds while we were there.
This was our view of Mount Rainier from Inspiration Point. The mountain truly does dominate the area.
On our way to the east side of the park, we found an entrance sign for the National Park.
After entering the park from the East, we hiked down the Eastside Trail to Silver Falls. Our most unusual sight on the trail was a spider web. It is hard to see this in the picture. The round portion at the top is actually three dimensional. It formed a sphere that was hollow in the middle.
We saw many smaller rapids and falls before we reached Silver Falls. Some were very small. Some were tall and narrow. One was quite wide and dramatic.
Silver Falls was the easiest to view because of a bridge built across the creek. It was the last of the falls before the creek reached a plateau. We got to see all the falls again as we hiked back up to the trailhead. They were still fun to see, even though we were a little more tired on the way back.
After the Eastside Trail, we drove to Sunrise Visitor Center and Sunrise Point. It is the highest point you can drive to in the park. From here, you begin to appreciate the size of Mount Rainer and the amount of snow on the mountain.
It takes a large picture like this to truly comprehend the massive size of Mount Rainier. The clouds add to the magic and mystery of the moment.
Just in case the prior picture did not demonstrate the scale of Mount Rainier, this photo was taken from Tipsoo Lake. The top of Mount Rainier is ten miles away.
Here is a sample of the flowers we saw today.
We have now traveled about one third of the way around Mount Rainier. We have traveled about 60 of the 150 miles it takes to drive around the entire mountain. It is a big mountain.