Sunday, we rode with a great group of people from the closed gate at the park up to Sunrise Visitor Center on the east and balder side of Mount Rainier. Every year many mountain roads are closed to cars, but open to bikes for a few days while they finish opening facilities but the road is cleared.
Here’s how it compares to the Tourmalet and Col d’Aspin, It’s in grey. Starts a little higher, ends a little lower, but does have that sustained climbing, and switchbacks!
The closed gate. Our friend.
Happy start! Little did she know that she was climbing to be Queen of this mountain.
There were some cool overhanging basalt rocks early on, and partway up, people were deriving energy from the car free pavement…or expiring. Not sure.
It looks down hill here, but it was a steady 4-5% almost the whole way. The mountain was so visible today, unlike many other days we went camping.
Little did we know that Mount Rainier was surrounded by peaks with many other names like the Cowlitz Chimney.
Seemed like a good place for a sticker under the soon to be mounted educational sign. It’s also at the 9 3/4 platform!
Trans colors really look good up here.
After just over 2 hours we made it to the top at 6400′. There was still some slushy snow up top.
There was a flat that required the attention of almost everyone and it took two attempts! Brenda had better plans.
It actually looked more fun with the clouds around it, like Erebor or something. Brenda is getting ready to jet.
There was a lake down there! We all leaned over and some considered going down and swimming. Not Brenda. I didn’t want to hike back up either.
Stickers
Planting these stickers has become a catharsis for me,; a meditation, a ritual. In it I hope to spread hope in loss, and in a way, take Serena with me places. Like a momma bear, I would constantly look for things that she would be interested in, to bring it back to her. Puzzles, ideas, sights, movies, books, games, you name it, my first thought was always “Would Serena like this? Could we have a conversation about it?” I miss those conversations, even though many ended abruptly with her “meh” look.
Serena, we love and miss you.
The Pangolin Posse in the World 