Subalpine Wildflowers

Silver Forest Trail

At sunrise we check in at the visitors' centre to find out which walks are safe to do today. Ice patches often slide down from Mount Rainier blocking parts of the path & sometimes there are rockfalls too. The ranger advises us to take the silver forest trail today as visibility is quite poor & the main attraction of this walk is the beautiful wildflowers. It's not raining today but it's still freezing cold so we wrap up warm.

Sunrise Point

Chinook Pass

On our second day in the region we head up towards Sunrise on Mount Rainier stopping off at a few places along the way to admire the views.

Yakama Nation Cultural Centre

Much of the land around the town of Yakima is taken up by native American reservations & the Yakama cultural centre outlines the history of the native people in this region. Fourteen different tribes used to live in this area getting their livelihood from the abundant salmon in the river. In the mid nineteenth century they were forced to give up 90% of their land in exchange for four small reservations which would be held in trust for all time. Things got worse still in the 1950s when the building of a dam ruined native people's chances of continuing to make a living from traditional salmon fishing. Many of the age old communities broke up & the repercussions are still being felt to this day. From outside the cultural centre we can see Mount Adams in the distance.

Driving into Washington

As we drive into Washington the next morning the weather improves. This feels a bit more like August.

Timberline Lodge

After leaving Portland we decide to spend a few days in the mountains of the Washington cascades. We hire a car & set off. Let's just say that the weather wasn't exactly perfect on our first day. We'd planned to do some walking around Mount Hood but freezing temperatures & drizzle put us off so we decided to visit the Timberine lodge instead. It was the setting for some of the outside shots of 'The Shining'. Can you tell? It's quite spooky. Inside it's beautifully cosy & warm though with a real alpine log cabin feel. We snuggled up with some mugs of hot chocolate & warmed our toes.