As the kids have gotten older, I've had to find different ways to motivate them. Since they're all so different, so are the solutions to the question, "Where should we go backpacking this year"
For Clara, what gets her going is SCIENCE! She talks about wanting to have a career in the outdoors so naturally we do the SCIENCE! when we're out. We were focusing on a different project this year, but a late call for help with the Adventure Scientists Timber Tracking project from last year gave us an excuse to head down to Mount Rainier.
One of the challenges we've had with finding Alaska Yellow Cedars for sampling has been where they grow. Not that we don't go to those sorts of places. Quite the opposite, actually. The problem is they mostly grow in designated Wilderness areas or National Parks. Last year, we had no permits for either so although we knew exactly where to go, we couldn't. This year, we were pleasantly surprised to learn there was a permit for Mount Rainier National Park.
We left after work on Friday and drove south with little hope of finding an open spot in a campground, but moderately better hope of finding a place off a dirt road to lay out the tent. As predicted, all the campgrounds in the Park were full. Same with the few we tried outside. However, Forest Service roads are great spots to snooze so we pulled off and pitched the tent.
Why even bother? Primarily because it's a two and a half hour drive from home and trailheads on the Sunrise side fills very early. By sleeping just outside the Park, we were able to sleep in and still get a spot in the parking lot.
Except, nope. The small parking lot at the Glacier Basin trailhead was full. Overfull, actually. Cars were parked on the sides of the road and in campsites closed due to hazard trees. We drove up the hill to Sunrise itself and got one of the last spots at about 7:30am. Yikes.
I checked in with the Rangers to ask if they knew of any stands of the trees we were looking for. "Maybe out the Silver Forest?" Not reassuring, but we went. We saw a few trees, but only smaller ones that didn't meet our criteria. Bummer. Worse: No views of the Mountain. Misty vistas are cool, but, meh.
We vacated our hard won parking spot and dropped back down to the valley to take another shot at Glacier Basin. For the first time ever, it paid off to arrive late. Early adventurers had already had their fun and left their spot just for us.
There were loads of trees to choose from along the trail. Sunrise may have been too high, but the White River valley was perfect. We gathered our ten tree samples (a leaf and cone from each tree that met our criteria of size and health) and finally got a view of the Mountain from the base of the last tree.
Wow. Parking. Trees. The Mountain. What else could we possibly need to make the trip a success? Oh, right. Ice cream. Good thing that was part of the plan for the drive home.
