Big Creek camping, Mt. Rainier

July, 2019

Big Creek Campground is not technically on Mount Rainier, although it’s really close. It’s not even in Mount Rainier National Park, nor is it in Mount Rainier National Forest that surrounds the Park and the mountain. But Big Creek Campground is right outside those boundaries, those dotted lines on a map. So of course, since I was that close to the mountain, I drove up to Paradise Visitor Center on Mount Rainier. The visitor center is definitely on the mountain … in fact it’s about 1/3 of the way up to the top of the Mount Rainier.

The photos above and below show the back side of Paradise Inn near the visitor center. You get a glimpse above of the stunning views of the surrounding mountain peaks that you would have if you stayed in one of the rooms on the front side of the Inn. If, however, you stayed in a room on the back side of the Inn (below), you’d have a front row view of Mt. Rainier herself.

Yes, that’s snow in the photo above. And that snow wasn’t piled up by a snow-blower or snow-plow; there were still piles of snow in all of the shady areas at this altitude. Remember that I was here in early July, still too early in the year for the snow to have fully melted at this altitude.

I had parked the big white truck at the Visitor’s Center. My goal today was to walk up to Myrtle Falls. The map below makes this one hike look like it’s a little bit uphill and then a lot downhill. Well, it was pretty much ALL uphill, but it sure was pretty!

Unfortunately, a nice big fluffy white cloud covered the top of the mountain today … not one tiny view of the mountain could be seen. But at the altitude where I was, at the Visitor Center and environs, the cloud cover was high and light enough so the views across the valleys were just perfect.

 

 

The photo above is of alpine trees right near the trail up to Myrtle Falls.

Myrtle Falls … .4 miles to the right … onward! (Remember to click on photos to enlarge them.)

 

After all of that uphill hiking and lots of heavy breathing, I made it to Myrtle Falls. In the photo above, there’s a bridge on the right side of the photo that crosses the top of the Falls. There is a VERY steep and long stair-step path down to the bottom of the Falls. I did not go down there. I crossed the bridge and continued on along the main trail/path.

Speaking of heavy breathing, I actually didn’t do a lot of that. This path was paved the entire way, so it was easy walking, though indeed it was all uphill and some of it a bit steep. But I stopped often to take photos of flowers, and to talk with other hikers/walkers, and all of that stopping for photos and chats allowed me to catch my breath if I needed to.

There was one elderly woman walking with her 30-something-year-old granddaughter(?). They stopped often so the older woman could sit and rest a bit. I passed them, then they passed me, etc. I noticed they were speaking Spanish. I remember a bit of Spanish from my years in the Philippines and from 4 years of Spanish classes in high school and college. When I passed these two women again, I said hello and a few other things in Spanish … that made both of them grin and laugh and then of course they launched into really rapid Spanish which I couldn’t understand at all. But right at that moment a fellow passed all three of us while pushing a baby in a wheeled pram. I said “Necesitamos tres de esos! Grandes!” (We need three of those! Big ones!) The two women whooped and laughed out loud and agreed wholeheartedly, and then wished me god speed in Spanish as I went on my way. They had such huge smiles on their faces, just because someone said hello and shared a moment of time with them, in their language. Their smiles carried me for the whole day. Aren’t human beings just the most wonderful people? 🙂

And … speaking of stopping to take photos of flowers …

 

 

 

 

 

Above and below … Myrtle Creek just before it plunges under that bridge and then down over the falls.

After I crossed that bridge over Myrtle Creek, I sauntered on a ways and happened to glance up to my left … whoa! Who’s this?!

 

 

Hey buddy, what’s up? This fellow was about 15 feet off to the left of the trail and was stretched out, simply loafing on that mound of dirt and grass, watching the tourists go by. One of the tourists said “it’s a beaver!” I knew better. Another tourist quietly said “it’s a Hoary Marmot.” I believed that woman.

They were very pretty animals, especially their red tails.

Along the next 50-60 feet of trail, there were six or seven marmots relatively close to the trail. One of them even crossed the paved trail within two feet of a human. The marmots paid no attention to us, didn’t appear to be expecting food. One human teenager started to offer food to one of them but his parents gave that teenager the word … do not feed the wildlife!

Above is one of their burrows. It was no more than two feet from the side of the trail.

Marmots are giant squirrels according to the internet. More about marmots can be found online HERE.

I spent most of the day here, on this trail, and then a little more time talking with folks around the Inn and the visitor center. It was a terrific day. The people walking this trail spoke all manner of languages. Almost everyone talked with each other and helped each other and pointed out things to see along the way. People who didn’t know much english had dictionaries with them. I noticed many english-speaking people borrowing those dictionaries to chat with those folks. Some people had never seen snow before (from the USA and from other countries). And then to see those wonderful marmots, well it was a really wonderful day.

All of that kept me in awe most of the day. But I have to admit that it was the trees that were truly mesmerizing for me. I do love trees. There were so many different kinds of trees here and they were all so beautiful.

 

If anyone can help me identify any of the flowers in this blog post, please do so. I would love to know what they are.