Perfect Refreshment

Today, I had hoped to be announcing the audio book release of Murder at Northanger Abbey, but it’s still awaiting final approval. I’m expecting that it will make it out before Halloween, though. Either way, I will invite you to read it in some form during this season, which would be particularly appropriate since the murder in the title takes place at a masked ball at Northanger Abbey on the night of All Hallow’s Eve!

So, since I have this post free for something else, I decided I’d share some of my thoughts and pictures from our recent trip to one of my favorite places in the world: Mt. Rainier National Park, which happens to be just and hour and a half down the road from where I live! So with unseasonably nice weather in the forecast a week and a half ago, my husband and I decided to hook up the camp trailer and head to “the mountain” for a few days of hiking and camping – a mental health holiday.

“I shall soon be rested,” said Fanny; “to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.” (Mansfield Park)

In my bio, I always say I live “in the countryside south of Seattle,” because everybody knows where Seattle is. However, I’m actually in the next county. And whereas Seattle boasts the Space Needle as its most famous landmark, Pierce County boasts an even more impressive monument. At 14,410 feet, it’s glacier-capped Mt. Rainier.

As many times as I’ve been to Mt. Rainier, it still possesses the power to awe me. It’s big, really big, and breathtakingly beautiful in every season.

Fun facts: Not only is Rainier Washington State’s tallest mountain, it is the most “glaciated” and most “prominent” peak in all the contiguous 48 states, rising 13,211 feet above its nearest low point. It’s considered an active volcano, with its last eruption in 1894. Native Americans called the mountain Tahoma, or Tacoma, but it was named Rainier by explorer Captain Vancouver, after his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier of the British Royal Navy. Hmm. I wonder if Jane’s seafaring brothers – or Captain Wentworth – knew the guy.

“What delight! What felicity! You give me fresh life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are young men to rocks and mountains? Oh! What hours of transport we shall spend!” (Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice)

Here’s something I recently learned. Rainier’s summit actually holds a small crater lake (130’ long and 16’ deep), the highest crater lake in North America. Sounds lovely! Would you like to go for a swim there? Too bad. The lake lies beneath 100 feet of ice and is only accessible by navigating a network of ice caves. I think I’ll pass on seeing it for myself and just take their word for it.

We did all our hiking at somewhat lower elevations, mostly in and around Paradise. Paradise is a recreational area on the south slope of the mountain, at the 5400’ level, with a lodge, visitor’s center, and a network of trails reaching all the way to Camp Muir at 10,000’. Although Paradise is “the snowiest place on earth” (receiving the most snow of anyplace keeping records), with a snow pack of up to 30’ in winter, the road reaching it is kept open year round. We’ve been there in winter for snow shoeing, when we were walking over the tops of the alpine trees you see in these pictures. This time of year, you can enjoy fall colors, at least until the snow returns for the long winter.

A few flakes of snow were finding their way down, and the sky had the appearance of being so overcharged as to want only a milder air to produce a very white world in a very short time.  (Emma)

 So for four days my husband and I camped, we hiked, and we “looked upon verdure.” We roasted marshmallows over an open fire, we gazed at the stars, and we slept in each other’s arms with the cool mountain air wafting over us. It was wonderful! It was a bit of paradise on earth – “the most perfect refreshment.” And we came home feeling renewed.

I hope you enjoyed my little travelogue. And I hope you will someday get the chance to visit my favorite mountain. Of course, you must come in good weather. If it’s shrouded in clouds, as it very often is, you may never see Rainier, even if you’re standing on the side of it at Paradise.

It was a sweet view – sweet to the eye and the mind. (Emma)

Have you ever been to Mt. Rainier? Where is your favorite place to commune with nature and recharge your batteries? Does this post bring to your mind any other Jane Austen references?

(For a related post, more pictures, and a chuckle, read Summer: It’s All Washed Away Except the Mouse Fur  at my website/blog.)