Hiking at Mt. Rainier Is Better than Hiking in Orange County

There, I said it.

Here’s the most picturesque scene from my last hike in the OC:

Not pictured: me nearly dying from dehydration in the vertical assault to reach this cherished view. No joke — all the classic symptoms (nausea, exhaustion). And not even this new laptop’s display can make the steep gully view down into Irvine seem cheerful.

Anyway — this post is belated. I visited my parents in Northeast Tacoma over Labor Day weekend. Spent one day up at Mt. Rainier, about a 90-minute drive from their house, much of which was beautiful in and of itself. You forget how green Washington is until you go back there. Some photos to prove my headline thesis…

(I didn’t have to leave the car to get this view. And what’s that puffy, white smog on the horizon…?

Above is the view from the trailhead at Sunrise (one of the two main park lodges at MRNP).

Burroughs Mtn. Trail — this was the view back on the trail from “Burroughs Mtn. II”.

The clouds just wouldn’t get off the peak, but man it was pretty up there.

Right-oh.

bkd

(Plus all the hiking trails in the OC are just charred remains now anyway.)