We love our weekend drives, and this past weekend was no exception!
As the weather gets a tad warmer and the snow starts to melt away, we are itching to get out into the parks in our area! We especailly love going to Mt. Rainier National Park, since it is so close to us in Seattle, and has great views at any time of year.
The park’s main entrances and roads are actually closed for the Winter months, and don’t open until the end of May. However, we decided to take a trip out to the Northeast entrance to see what we could find.
While the entrance was closed, we did get to explore the surrounding area mountains and rivers.
It was such a clear day that we were able to see Mt. Rainier the entire drive out to the mountains, and was only obscured by mountains we came close to.
After we drove by the closed entrance, we went up Crystal Mountain to see what sights we would come across.
The pullouts along the way up, and back down, the mountain were so open and peaceful. We enjoyed standing in snow patches and listening to the distance river rushing in the valley below.
The drive up the mountain was so beautiful and lush, especially with the newly melting snow.
As we meandered back down the mountain and headed North, we also stopped at a short trail by the White River to enjoy more of the fresh air.
This was such a pretty trail! We didn’t go very far down the trail as we were more interested in the section next to the river, but I would be interested in checking it out again sometime.
The understory of the forest was so soft that we couldn’t even hear our boots crunching sticks. It was such a wonderful silence to experience… except for the rushing water of course.
One of the reasons we love the PNW is because we feel like kids exploring the rivers and trees. It is always so much fun to see the blue water and smooth pebbles in the rivers, breathe in the rich fresh air, and walk around looking at the various mosses. I think I want to get a book about the native plants and mosses because there seem to be quite a few different varieties!
We had a great time driving around and just seeing a new side of the park, and can’t wait to do more exploring!
Much love,
Chelsea
Adventures with the Yells 