A little housekeeping here on the blog site. On the right side of the blog is a new subscription service. If you sign up, you will receive an email when we publish a new post. okay, onto the trip report.
Our last day in the Columbia River Gorge found us headed up to the White Salmon River once again. This time we were on our own to boat the middle section (BZ Corner to Husum Falls). We heard this was a great intermediate run in a sweet gorge and it didn't disappoint. The White Salmon drains the southwest side of Mount Adams and the water is crystal clear and super super cold.
Husum Falls. We took out before the falls but were tempted to give it a shot. Maybe next time.
The put-in at BZ Corner used to be across private property, but local paddling groups advocated for a new public put-in. First time I have ever seen an elevated rail system for rafts to slide down to the water. Worked well for our kayaks too.
Pretty typical section of the White Salmon. Ledge drops and tons of wildflowers.
Another beautiful rapid drop on the run. I could see combining the middle section with the lower section (what we did a couple of days ago) and having a nice long day on the water.
We packed up our gear and instead of taking the straight forward route to Seattle, we decided to try some back roads through the Pinchot National Forest. So glad we did. The roads eventually turned to dirt and popped us out in a small town of Randle on the flanks of Mt. Rainier. A little schedule change gave us time for a quick day trip to the tallest volcano in the Cascades. We went into Mt. Rainier National Park for a night and a day. Since it was the middle of the week, there were plenty of campsites inside the park.
Early spring meant wildflowers were already out and abundant. Teresa harvested a couple from the side of the road and we ended up with the prettiest picnic table in the park. The bouquet included beargrass, fox gloves and sword ferns.
We took another Zodi shower in the creekbed behind our camp. I think this was my favorite shower site to date. We were surrounded by huge fir logs that hid us from view and a nice soft forest floor for our bare feet. Pretty luxurious.
The drive up to Paradise is pretty spectacular with tons of waterfalls. We didn't grab a picture of it, but the Nisqually River has a pretty amazing floodplain. There were obviously pretty big flow events going on every couple of years.
Mt. Rainier. Impressive amount of glaciers up there.
We hiked up the Skyline trail to Glacier Vista. Lots of guided climbing groups hiked past us on the way to Camp Muir. Mixed emotions seeing them all geared up. It would be great to get up high, but we could only bring so many toys for the trip and the climbing gear was left at home.
Marmots were out and about while we were above treeline. Cute little guys, but don't leave your pack unattended or it will be ransacked.
Wildflowers on hill side looking out towards Mt. Saint Helens.
Wildflower close up. Broad Leaf Lupin (left) and Magenta Paintbrush (right)
Another short road side hike in the Park. The waterfall split two rock formations: Andesite (left) and Granite (right)
On our hike up to Commit falls there were all these little waterfalls in a bedrock gorge.
Avalanche Lilies
Comet Falls. 320 feet. Amazing. We climbed up to the base of the falls and took a little mist shower. After the Comet Falls hike we packed up and started the drive to Bainbridge Island and the home of Amy and Bernard.
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