An Almost Perfect Afternoon!

Mount Rainier and the White River.
The weather here in western Washington the last nine months has been far worse than we have experienced in our nine years here. In fact, up until last week it had been a record 272 days since the temperature had hit 75 degrees. Today summer hit with bluebird skies and 80 degrees.

I wanted to take full advantage of this day so I loaded my bike (the Red Rocket) on the Pilot and drove to Mount Rainier National Park. I have a great love for many of our National Parks -- Arches, Yosemite, Zions, Grand Canyon... -- but my very favorite is Mount Rainier. I suspect that is driven in large part because I have spent the most time there as it is only 30 minutes from our house. It is truly a spectacular place with parts that remind me of the Swiss and French Alps. Some of my favorite hikes in the world are in my "backyard". I also love to bike the mountain passes through the park. I had not done that since my heart problem last August, as those roads are only open a few months out of the year because of the tens of feet of snow they receive each fall, winter and spring (Sunrise opened last week).

I drove 35 miles to the turnoff for the road to Sunrise where I started my afternoon adventure. (I forgot a good camera so my iphone took these photos) As I was doing some final adjustments on my bike a giant RV drove up next to me.

The driver stuck his head out the window and said, "Hey friend, will that road (pointing to the Sunrise road) take me to the top of the mountain?" I was a bit stunned by this question. The Sunrise road takes you to the highest point you can drive to (6,400 feet) but it is 7,900 feet short of the top of Mount Rainier (14,300 feet). I couldn't figure out which was more absurd the thought of a road to the top of Rainier or that RV driving up such a road. Ever polite, I assured him the road would take him to the highest point one could drive to in the park.
Here is the RV. Does it look capable of driving to the summit of Mount Rainier?

My first climb was up Chinook Pass. From where I started it is 7.5 miles and over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. It is a gorgeous climb with jaw dropping vistas every inch of the way which is why it is one of America's "Scenic Byways" and an "All American Road". It is also an engineering marvel as it is cut in the side of the mountain. There are no steep grades but it is an unrelenting climb. With all the snow melting, and many waterfalls on both sides of the road, there was no water on the road.
The Chinook Pass road is in the bottom, middle and on the upper right of this photo with majestic Mount Rainier overseeing all.

Another look at the Chinook Pass road.

At the top of Chinook Pass is beautiful Tipsoo Lake. By this time of year it is usually all melted and countless wildflowers are growing near its shore. Not this year.
Tipsoo Lake is just beginning to melt. This is one of the prettiest views in the entire National Park.

The descent from the top of the pass is a wonderful ride where you can easily average 35 MPH without much effort. My next climb was to Sunrise -- 10 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain. I love this climb and have done it many times over the years. There are few cars on the road and most that pass a biker on the ascent give a thumbs up -- not many cars pass a bike on the descent with its numerous sharp curves and hairpin turns which are easier for a skilled biker to negotiate than a car.
Both climbs have a number of hairpin turns that help make a very fun descent.

The first part of the Sunrise climb is not as spectacular as Chinook Pass as it is in dense tree cover with few openings. But as one approaches Rainier the vistas are breathtaking as it feels like you could reach out and touch the mountain.

Typical view of Rainier near the summit of the Sunrise road.
The Red Rocket by the just emerging Sunrise sign.

The Red Rocket at the end of the road with Rainier in the background.

The Sunrise meadow just above the parking lot. In a month this will be full of wildflowers too numerous to count.

The descent from Sunrise is even more fun than Chinook. It helped end an almost perfect afternoon. What would have made it perfect? If some of my children would have been on the ride with me (Rosie appears to have no interest in such an adventure). Where were you Marc, Steve and Emilie on a day like this? There is hope for the future though as Andrew has biked with me almost every day the last week and Rebekah rode a bike to the school this morning. Paul will soon be home and hopefully he will want to get in on a couple of world class climbs on a bike. Both Chinook and Sunrise should still be open when he gets here on October 7. I'll be ready if he wants to go for it.