We packed up our dry tent and headed out of Chelan and on to Mt. Rainier to meet Nick and Laura Bullard. Laura and Jean went to Middle School and one year of high school together. We seem to reunite every 5 or 6 years. They live outside Tumwater. We were going to camp together for a couple of nights and then return to their house for a couple of days.
We took the Chinook Scenic Byway from Natches (where we got some peaches to die for!!) and over the Chinook Pass and then down into Mt. Rainier National Park. Along the way we went by Fife's Peak with it's huge rock face. Once we got into the park we immediately stopped and
snapped this picture before Mt. Rainier's peak disappeared. It's notorious for disappearing in the clouds. It makes it's own weather. Look way up in the clouds for it's peak. There were still a good number of flowers blossoming, despite it being late September. This magenta paintbrush was a new one for us....we're used to red Indian Paintbrushes from Colorado and Wyoming.
One of our favorite stops was Narata Falls. It was one steep walk down there but well worth it!
After countless stops at viewpoints, box canyons, falls and flowers we finally got to Cougar Rock thinking Nick and Laura must have been twiddling their thumbs for hours waiting for us. We had agreed that whoever arrived first leave a note as to which campground we had selected on the message board. Well, no message so we drove around the campground to see if we could find their truck. We were just pulling back into the registration area and who should pull up but Nick and Laura. They had gotten a slow start so hadn't been waiting for us at all.We got our tent set up and they got their camper leveled and we just sat around and got reacquainted again. Had dinner and then a nice fire and chatted late into the evening. Hopefully no rain tonight!
