The last of the Pacific Northwest Coast, for now.

Mount Rainier, Washington

“… the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.” – John Muir, conservationist, 1889

We haven’t been to as many Alpine locations in the U.S. as Mr. Muir, but we have to agree that the slopes of Mount Rainier are beautiful.  The growing season is short at 5000-7000 feet, and we were fortunate to be there on a clear, warm day late in August, with wildflowers in bloom.  We hiked the popular Skyline Loop, from the Paradise Ranger station.  We saw glaciers (and later heard them calving), saw snow fields melting, streams running, fields of scree and alpine meadows covered with wildflowers, evergreens, moss, singing birds, hawks soaring, even a couple of marmots. 

The 7 mile loop took some effort, but the scenery was awesome, making the hike seem easy.  We spent about a half hour trying to think of new superlatives to describe the beauty. we were experiencing; awesome, spectacular, inspiring, vast, etc. This is a popular hike, so get to the Paradise Lodge early to find parking. 

Seaside, Oregon

We headed back down to the Oregon coast to Seaside.  Broad beaches, gusting winds, sand dunes and stunning rock formations at the shore.  The only good campsites left had no power, so we ran off our battery, and I put the portable solar panels up on the roof to get the best sun during the day to recharge. There’s a sweet little aquarium in Seaside, and we enjoyed seeing up close creatures native to the area.

Pacific City

We explored the beach and the sand dune of Cape Kiwanda, where the wind was whipping over the top of the dune

Florence Oregon

We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory to see the cheese making in process, and had some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup from their café.  Yum!! There was a long line of folks waiting to buy ice cream at $3.50 a scoop, so we opted to just get a carton of Tillamook ice cream at the local grocery store.  

We hiked to Hecta Head Lighthouse and beyond to Hobbit Beach.  The wind pushing up against the rise of Hecta Head continuously formed a cloud which ran through the trees at top of the ridge as fog.  So cold at the top.

This was our last stop on the coast of Oregon, and concluded the coldest (and greenest) August we have ever experienced.  Meanwhile most of the rest of the West had been experiencing heat waves and smoke from forest fires.  Next, is inland Oregon near Bend and Sunriver.