Finally, the sun!!!!!  Now I see the attraction of living here!  The sky was a clear blue and all of a sudden, we could see Mount Rainier from Tacoma.   WOW!  We entered the park from the north entrance after stopping at a wide spot in the road to don our winter clothes.  The temp dropped below 40.  Mount Rainier is a gorgeous park and I’m so glad we entered from the north so that we had time to appreciate it before encountering incredible crowds at Paradise.  We cruised into one of the campgrounds to see what it was like and saw this scene.  Hikers were strapping cross country skis and snowshoes onto their backpacks and trekking up the mountain to catch the mountaintop snow.

We took a couple of quick viewpoint hikes and came across justification for why some of the trails are still closed.  This tree took out the trail when it fell.  Winters are harsh here.

Colors are incredible here.  Who knew that moss could be so many different colors.  Isn’t this beautiful?

Unfortunately, Paradise was anything but.  Note to self:  beautiful clear day + National Park a day trip from 3+ million people + Father’s Day = crowds too big to really enjoy nature’s grandeur.  There appeared to be lots of day-trippers but they had come prepared.  One family had hauled their charcoal grill up to the Nisqually Glacier trailhead.  Another was chilling a watermelon in the snow (okay, that was a pretty good idea).  We bailed on the Nisqually Glacier hike as well as the hike to Narada Falls because the crowds were just too much.   We were rewarded, however, with this site as we walked back to our car at Paradise.  What causes upside down rainbows in the sky?