2 Days and Nights in Mount Rainier National Park (White River Campground)
It was raining when we woke up at Lake O’Hara and continued to rain as we drove through the Canadian National Parks almost until we reached the US border. We were happy to be driving today rather than hiking! It took us about 4.5 hours to reach the border. While we had no issues at our border crossing into Canada on the way to Banff, we faced many questions and sideways glances from the US border patrol agents on our way back in, specifically from the agent of US agriculture. He asked us the same questions more than once, as if fishing for a slip-up. No welcome home or hope you had a nice trip. We were also reminded of the many fines that come with bringing certain items back, even if by accident. Finally, after about 15-20 minutes and after examining our bags of rice, we were allowed to pass, and headed for Spokane, Washington.
We had not yet decided how far we wanted to drive. When we reached Spokane after about 6.5 hours of driving, we stopped in a Costco and Walmart to restock our food supply. By the time we finished our shopping, it was about 6 pm and we felt like we should drive a little further to cut down our drive to the west coast tomorrow. This turned out to be a slight mistake; we started calling ahead to a few campsites to see if they had any space for the night (hasn’t typically been a problem for us to walk-in to a campground). However, we forgot that it was Saturday of Labor Day weekend – every campsite was booked. The sun was quickly setting, so we had to make a decision. We were near Ritzville and there was a motel for $66/night. We figured for the hot shower, bed, and continental breakfast it was worth it. This motel was great for the price! We also used the internet to plan our next week in Washington.
The next morning, we headed for Mount Rainier National Park, about a 4.5-hour drive from Ritzville. There are only four campgrounds in the park; one is located on the northwest side, difficult to access, and hike-in sites only. Two others are located on the southeast and southwest sides of the park and are reservable in advance. The last one, White River campground, is located on the northeast side and is first come first serve, so this is where we headed. It took us about an hour to get into the northeast entrance to the park (sitting in traffic). Once we were in, we went straight to the campground. We were still nervous that space would be limited since it was Labor Day weekend, but there were plenty of available sites. After evaluating all of the campsite loops, we settled on site #D36. It’s a bit tucked away but is close to the day-use parking lot. We didn’t have any issues with this since we weren’t at the site that much during the day. Loop D has some nice sites that front the White River. These were unfortunately already taken, otherwise we would have selected one of these!
After setting the tent up, we ate a quick snack and drove up to the Sunrise Visitor Center (10 miles/20-minute drive from the campground). This point in the park is supposed to have a great view of Mt. Rainier. It was unfortunately too cloudy to see Mount Rainier at all. Since we were there, we picked a shorter hike even though we couldn’t see much – a 3-mile loop to Frozen Lake. Not our favorite hike, but probably dampened by the terrible fog/clouds. It only took us a little over an hour and then we drove back to the campsite for a pork loin, mashed potato, and broccoli dinner.
The weather on our second day in Mount Rainier was much better. We could actually see the peak! After making breakfast tacos, we drove the 30 miles (~1.5 hour) to Paradise Visitor Center on the southern side of the park. We drove passed the reflection pools, but it wasn’t calm enough to produce the picturesque reflections we had read about. At Paradise (tip, get there early because parking can be tough), we did the 5.5-mile Skyline loop trail (1700 ft. elevation gain), which featured two waterfalls and nice views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding meadows and mountains. We finished the hike in about 2.5 hours, including a 5-minute stop at the viewpoint for a cracker break. Would definitely recommend this hike to others! We completed the trail counterclockwise from the visitor center. Following the hike, we drove back to the campsite and made sausages with peppers and onions for dinner. Our trip to Mt. Rainier was short, but enjoyable!
