We got up early and through the trees from our campsite we could see an orange Mt. Rainier. It would have been great to be up at Sunrise Ridge but…. We got there as soon as we could. Beautiful vistas, beautiful photos, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL.
The Sunrise Ridge is about 6,400 feet in elevation above sea level and Mt. Rainier is 14,411 feet in elevation. It’s a gigantic mountain. Mt. Whitney in California at 14,494 feet in elevation is the tallest mountain in the lower U.S. And a close 3rd is Mt. Rainier.
There are 9 mountain peaks in the lower U.S. that are between 14,494 and 14,000 feet in elevation. It was like the volcanic eruption and other seismic shifting gods played a game of who could get closest to 14,500 feet in elevation without going over. The tallest mountains in North America are in Alaska with Mt. Denali at 20,310 feet in elevation leading the way with 8 other peaks taller than Mt. Whitney. And not to be out done Hawaii claims the 3 tallest mountains, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Haleakala if you measure what is beneath sea level. Facts you need to know.
After photos and coffee we were off towards Mt. St. Helens. We took a less traveled way to view Mt. St. Helens and it was beautiful but tedious. Lots of winding roads and uneven pavement. In 1980 I visited Mt. St. Helens about 3 months after the volcanic eruption. It was true, the trees looked like scattered tooth pics in the path of the eruption. 38 years later there are trees growing at lower elevations but the top 3rd of the 8,364 foot tall mountain is still very bare but a very stunning and ominous site.
After viewing Mt. St. Helens we came down to the Columbia River Gorge and found that our campground choice, Ainsworth State Park in Oregon, was closed due to a fire that looked like it occurred last year. Bummer. After checking a few RV Camps to no avail we settled on a room at a Motel 6 in Gresham, OR. Part of our thought process was that it was 95 degrees here, better to be inside at 74 degrees.
