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Our rooms at the Paradise Inn were very small and simple - with 2 showers shared between the 31 rooms on the floor. But they were comfortable, and we had a nice view. This is Mt. Rainier at dawn from our bedroom window.

Rich took an early morning hike along the Alta Vista Trail. There were no clouds around Mt. Rainier all day, so the views were even better than the previous day.

Our morning hike went to Myrtle Falls and then along Skyline Trail and the Lakes Trail to Reflection Lake. Here are three deer we saw at the beginning of our hike.

Myrtle Falls. You can distinguish between falls and rivers which come from snow melt and those which come from melting glaciers because the ones from snow melt are clear water while the ones from melting glaciers are very gray in color and quite opaque. The color is due to "glacier flour," which is the very fine sediment which results from the grinding of the glaciers along the rocks. This waterfall comes from snow melt.

We saw two very large marmots and one baby along this trail. The marmots were the size of large beavers! Here is the best photo we got - just one marmot enjoying the sun.

The wildflowers were profuse and lovely along this trail also.

Alan, Mary, and Jan along the trail.

A typical mountain meadow.

There were more lovely waterfalls along this trail.

A view back to the Paradise Inn where we were staying and to the Visitor Center (the round building in the background).

Alan and Jan continued up the Skyline Trail looking for Sluiskin Falls. This was all that was there - pretty, but hardly the waterfall they were expecting.

Some of the wildflowers they encountered.

Mt. Rainier is an inactive (but not extinct) volcano. The same was said of Mount St. Helens until it erupted about 1980. We got a kick out of the cloud which looks like steam from the volcano crater on Mt. Rainier.

While Alan and Jan looked for the waterfall, Rich and Mary headed down the Lakes Trail. We all met just before we reached Reflection Lake.

To avoid aggrevating her plantar fasciitis, Mary stopped hiking here. She read and enjoyed the view above while Rich, Alan, and Jan continued back up the the Paradise Inn and came back with the car to pick her up. On their hike, the guys found yet another waterfall.

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