Mount Rainier National Park, WA

For this past adventure, Christine led me to Mount Rainier National Park.

She had learned from a co-worker that now is the time to visit Berkeley Park for wildflowers. So that’s just what we did. Waking up at 5AM is a bit rough but we wanted to beat the crowds. And thankfully we did. Only a handful of cars were at the Visitor Center by the time we arrived. Even from the parking lot the park was showing its stuff.

The mountain itself is always impressive (even from our West Seattle apartment) but to see Rainier this close is really something special. As we followed the trail on our flower seeking trek the glacier capped peak loomed overhead. Shortly after starting the hike though, our attention was pulled away from the mountain and towards the ground.

As far as the eye can see at some points, flowers filled the ground all the way to the horizon.

We followed the trail down the valley for roughly 3.5 miles until we decided to head back. Dark clouds were starting to form around Rainier and we didn’t want to get stuck in any late afternoon showers.

This is an easy hike for flower seekers and the mountain views are an added bonus.