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08.27.2001 23:45

Hiking at Mt. Rainier


On Sunday, Ben and I went to Mount Rainier for a hike and to see some of the alpine flower fields. As it turned out, it was one of the more miserable hiking trips that I have gone on in recent memory. It started out ok – after a long, dusty ride to the Mowich Lake parking lot on Rainier northwest side, we headed down the path. It was quiet, only about 20 cars at the trailhead, and it seemed that most of them belonged to overnight campers. We headed to Sprey Park, a short, 3-mile hike to the alpine fields. About halfway up, the traffic jam started: groups of college age people hiking the Wonderland Trail all the way around Rainier and day hikers. I either felt pressured to hike faster, causing me to get out of breath in the thinner air, or we were waiting around for others to clear the path. Completely unacceptable. Once we got to the fields, the wildflowers were also already gone, but the views of the mountain were pretty spectacular. The sky was perfectly blue without a cloud. A woman a hundred yards in front of us warned us of a mother black bear with cubs in the field nearby, but we didn't see them.



The way back down was horrific. Not only were there the people to contend with (at this point, a steady stream upward) but also the bugs were worse than I have ever experienced in Washington State. Perhaps it was because of all the dry weather that the horseflies have become the size of hummingbirds or the recent rains have let out all the mosquitoes, but I was about ready to go nuts on the walk back down. I actually hit a horsefly with my hiking pole and it made a pretty loud dinging noise. By the time we made it back to the parking lot, hot and cranky from the 7-mile walk, I wanted to jump in the lake to avoid the bugs, but to our surprise, there were close to 100 cars in the parking lot. Little did we know that Mowich Lake is one of the most popular picnic areas in the park (the lake is right next to the parking lot, so tons of kids too).



I guess that I shouldn’t complain too much: I live in a great state with some of the most amazing scenery in all of the US less than a two-hour drive away. It’s just too bad that I have to share it with bugs and people. Or buggy people.

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08.25.2001 18:17

Finally !

After much stalling, delays and various degrees of interest and disinterest, I’ve finally revamped my website. For now, the content is certainly lacking, but I’ll work on that. Tomorrow, Ben and I are going hiking at Mt. Rainier and I will have some pictures for the photo section. For now, you can play with the funny mouse-over graphics and take a look at the website that I (finally!) finished for my sister’s wedding.

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