Our original plan for the weekend was to enjoy scenery of North Cascades; however thunderstorms threatening that area quickly changed our mind and reversed directions of travel.
The decision to head down South to Paradise area of Mt. Rainier NP turned out to be a very good one. The flowers were in their peak. Beautifully colorful meadows surrounded the trail we took, creeks were bubbling through them with a sunshine sparking on their surfaces, and of course there was the huge white (or actually grey/white with lots of the snow now melted) "thing" blocking our view to North to admire.
Beautiful day to be outside; however little on the hotter side. Even as high as Paradise, it was baking hot 90 degrees. Most welcomed breeze came when we started climbing to Panorama Point which not only cooled us down but also discouraged the bugs from following us further.
The views got even better once we found ourselves higher, crossing rocky parts of the route. Getting first class view of Nisquilly Glacier, we were able to fully appreciate the rough beauty of this above the tree line landscape.
Afterwards the trail took us down to the meadows again as it looped back to the parking lot which at that point was absolutely packed. The combination of blue sky and wildflowers lured hundreds of people from near and far. Lucky day for mosquitoes!
