Hiking on Mount Rainier!

Hello my friends! Even though I have been home from my trip to the Pacific Northwest for a few weeks now, I love looking at the photos my family took. Today I am going to share some photos from a hike my moms and I took at Mount Rainier National Park. We hiked the Grove of the Patriarchs trail in the Ohanapecosh section of the park.

The Grove of the Patriarchs trail is special to my family; my Mama hiked this trail with her summer camp when she was only a little older than I am now! I have heard a lot of about this sacred place and I was very excited to hike there. The Grove of the Patriarchs is a grove of very, very old red cedar trees along the shore of the Ohanapecosh River. The trees are called patriarchs because they are elders. The area is sacred to the local Native people, so it is important to be respectful there and not make a lot of noise.

Summer is a beautiful time to visit Mount Rainier! The Ohanapecosh area is green and peaceful. One of my presents for the trip was a special backpack that holds water. I was able to sip the water through a tube as I hiked. So cool!

Part of the hike goes along the banks of the Ohanapecosh River! The river begins as runoff from the Ohanapecosh Glacier, so the water is very, very cold. My Mom stuck a toe in and warned me not to do the same, so I didn't! The river is very clear and blue and you can see the stones so clearly at the bottom. It's beautiful!

Along the rocky bank of the river, you can sometimes see cairns. Cairns are stacks of rocks that guide hikers' way. Aren't they beautiful? I made sure not to knock them over as that would be very disrespectful. One of the things a Junior Ranger always remembers is to "take only pictures and leave only footprints."

Our hike lasted about an hour. I'm glad I had some time to spend with my parents! After my hike, I met up with a friend to camp at Mount Rainier! That's a story for my next blog post.

Have you ever gone for a hike in a forest? What did you see?