Hiking
For most perceptive Seattleites, Mount Rainier is a familiar sight. On a clear day the picturesque mountain graces our views. Mount Rainier National Park is a fabulous location for day hikes. Some of the In My Backyard team members went there for a day of hiking and research. There are several visitor centers at the park that serve as good starting points for hikes. We went to the Sunrise Visitor Center for our trip, but the Paradise Visitor Center is also a great location to begin a hike. Both of these visitor centers are starting points for many hiking trails that range in difficulty. Some of the hikes are super easy (even for me) and some of them are more challenging. At Sunrise, many of the hikes intersect so you can jump from hike to hike if you want to go to multiple locations.
At 3am on a Sunday morning, I groggily hauled myself out of bed and stumbled to the family car. My dad and I had decided the afternoon before that we wanted to see the sunrise on Rainier before meeting up with our extended family for a hike. Even though we were tired, an hour long BBC special on the element tungsten made the two hour drive much more enjoyable. No seriously. Contact me if you have any questions about tungsten.
in Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest (MSNF). After a groggy shopping stop in North Bend, we arrived at the Franklin Falls trailhead. There we met Marta, a former telephone company employee who after retirement joined the Forest Service and now leads trail work parties. Marta instructed us on how to use a totter (mechanical wheelbarrow) since we were spreading gravel along the trail. We worked with a Student Conservation Association high school trail crew to fill the totter and buckets with gravel. When the gravel was dumped on the trail we raked it out which was surprisingly tiring. We ate lunch on a rock overlooking the river which only became a problem when a plastic cap fell in. Luckily we were able to save it with some quick maneuvering. After lunch we continued with the gravel work but took turns removing roots from the trail. I find trail work very gratifying since it’s easy to see the progress I’ve made.
In My Backyard 