August 2017

I am busy completing all of the hikes found in the Mountaineers “50 Hikes in Mount Rainier National Park” 1988 edition. After today, I have only 3 hikes left to have essentially done them all. It is a pity I waited so long to do this hike. The view above is the upper Palisades Lake, which is at the end of the maintained trail. The wildflowers were out in this bloom. It was sunny. For the photographer, the only real problem was the haze from forest fires in Canada. The temperature was perfect, and the trail was immaculately maintained. Except for the trail to the first lake (Sunrise Lake), I took all the side trails to trips around the lakes that I passed. The first was Sunrise Lake, seen from the Sunrise Lookout. I’ve seen this lake in the past, thinking that it was impossibly far down, but actually is a very pleasant hike to get to.
Lupine and Indian Paintbrush dominate the floor of the forests.
Flowers along the trail
There were a number of large and expansive meadows bordered by the rock cliffs of the Palisades
Clover Lake was the second lake on the trail.
I passed Clover Lake, and then Pete Lake, which had a campsite. There was also Tom and Harry Lake which I could not find. I hiked on to the Upper Palisades Lake, going a little beyond to see an overlook of the Lower Palisades Lake, reached by a primitive unsupported trail. On return, there was a short grunt up to Hidden Lake, which is a gem very worth the effort to get there.
Hidden Lake
View from the Hidden Lake trail. On the horizon is a flat spot, which is the Sunrise Lookout, the start of the trail.
More flowers, with Pete Lake sticking out
The Garmin data is slightly skewed in that I forgot to turn it off until I got several miles down the road. In reality, it was about 7.5 – 8.2 miles hiking, with 2250 feet elevation gain (approximately). This is just slightly different than the guidebook suggests.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210101659if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1904569977
All in all, it was a marvelous hike, and I felt great the entire time. About the last two miles, my left knee started to hurt quite seriously again. I thought that it was healed, but it wasn’t. This made each step dreadfully painful, and slowed me way down. I might have to postpone some hiking trips planned in the next few weeks, and do some cycle touring instead. Bicycling is VERY easy on my knees. We’ll see.

Lake Merwin Hideaway Adventure 05-06AUGUST
Betsy and I were invited by my sister Gloria to visit her at her place at the Lake Merwin Campers Hideaway (http://www.lmch.com). We headed out Saturday AM for an 140 mile 2-½ hour drive to an exclusive gated campground, where the residents have a small plot of land with water, sewer, electricity and wifi connected, as well as a boat launch, in-door swimming pool, and other amenities. There are numerous rules to the property owners, but the most important one is that the main structure needs to be an RV/camper unit. Many of the units have a good view of the lake and/or Mt. St. Helens. After a little difficulty finagling our way through the gate, we found Gloria’s trailer and waited for her arrival.

Gloria arrived, we fetched her dog, had a few beers and much catching up to do, before Gloria took us on a grand tour of the facility. It’s fairly large with about 1500 units.
Gloria in deep conversation with Betsy
We did dinner by ordering out pizza, went out looking at a few of the units, and finally discovered a brand new unit very close to Gloria’s.

Then, we discovered that this was the new place where my niece Amy and her husband Josh and four children Blake, Kate, Jack, and Chase would be spending many happy weekends.

It was nice getting to meet them.
One last photo of them and us…

There is one thing missing… what is it???? It’s Lew and Carol!!!! Hopefully, they can make it up soon.
Betsy spent the night restless on a futon in Gloria’s trailer, while I slept out back in my tent. I slept like a log. It’s wonderful to be outside. Though they call this a “camper’s” hideaway, I don’t really consider staying in an RV or camper as “camping”. I need contact with terra firma, the good earth, dirt. This would be an ideal location for my brother Gaylon to move to. I hope that we could talk him into it.
We took off early am to drive back home, telling Gloria goodby, and wishing her the best, as she also headed back to Portland.

Eagle Peak Saddle (in Mt. Rainier National Park)
Jon and I hiked the Eagle Peak trail on 29JUL. The day before, I did the Shriner Peak trail. I was a little sore, but really felt good. Running up the trail wasn’t too problematic, in spite of the fact that it was a persistent climb at a fairly rapid rate.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210101659if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1883948381
Coming down ended up just a little too abusive to my knees and I ended up with a horrific pain in my left knee which took several days to resolve.
The weather was gorgeous, and we were able to complete the hike before the heat of the day. Here are a few of the photos from the hike.