Mount Rainier National Park

Following tradition, we did a campout over Labor Day weekend.  This year, we went to Mount Rainier National Park and spent three nights in Cougar Rock Campground.  It was highly enjoyable and the weather turned out to be a lot better than I expected.

Day 1 (Friday September 3rd)
We got a late start and arrived in the park around 4 PM. Knowing that the weather was going to get worse, we decided to drive to Paradise to get a good view of the mountain. This is what we saw:

We then proceeded to camp, set it up and socialized.

Day 2 (Saturday September 4th)
Clouds rolled but the weather was still nice. We went as a group back to Paradise and did a couple of hikes. Sonya loved having tons of friends camping with her and we had lots of great views (despite the mountain being covered by clouds).

That evening, we had an excellent pot luck with tons of delicious food.

Day 3 (Sunday September 5th)
Being Sunday, we felt it appropriate to visit the Grove of the Patriarchs on the Southeast side of the park. Some of the trees were over 1000 years old. This side of the mountain had some light rain.

We also visited Longmire. It was here that Sonya became a Junior Ranger of Mount Rainier National Park. She was VERY proud.

That evening, food was awesome, desserts even better and company great. Light rain rolled in during the night causing disturbed sleep for all of us.

Day 4 (Monday September 6th)
We packed up, chatted with our friends and headed home.