This week my good friend Ben’s cross country road trip finally took him close to Seattle. He wanted to climb some mountains, though there are lots of mountains nearby, one really stands out.
Rainier as seen from the banks of White River, near our campsite.
Sunrise lookout point, the mountain doesn’t look so big from up here.
Leaving from Sunrise, ready to start.
Above the tree line its like we landed on another planet.
I think it says “this way to mountain”.
A few park rangers wielding shovels.
That’s a very large mountain.
The mountain man in his native habitat.
A fantastic way too cook tuna.
We are about 7000′ up and Rainier extends at least another 7000′ further.
Rainier is taking up more and more of the horizon.
The end goal of our hike, still miles away.
Sometimes, you have to go down to go up.
No a glacier, but a little bit of snow.
Walking across a pumice field is like being on the moon.
We won’t be going to the top today, Ben.
Other than Rainier we are the tallest in the land.
Still a really tall mountain.
With a peak still very far away.
Yellow and red grass seem to be the norm here, very alien.
Looking down into the valley, as we are still above the tree line.
Another view of White River and its source.
A refreshing break on the way back at Shadow Lake.
A Clash of Coasts 
Love seeing these. And realizing Rainier looms above even when you climb close to it.
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