Getting Closer to Rainer
Upon our return to the States we’d planned to jump right into the van and go exploring for a month before my mom-sitting commitment started in late October. My sister and brother-in-law were finally getting a well-earned vacation, and I was on duty. But, as they do, plans changed. Instead we spent our first week around the house to help out. That gave us the freedom to slow-crawl getting Marcel ready, so we did just that. No rush, more mom-time, and a few fewer days in the woods. It’s all good.
Marcel awaiting our return, parked at the bottom of the family property.
It is mushroom season
On the weekend, though, we got out of the city. Kerri was feeling the itch, and so was I. We both needed some introvert time. Maybe we’d pick a few mushrooms too, so we took Marcel up into the nearest mountains for a break from what my sister has to put up with 52 weeks a year. We didn’t have to travel far to reach the wilderness. Just an hour south we were climbing into the national forest south of Mt. Rainier. Kerri had picked a dirt road that led deep into the solitude, and we followed it to the end, finding a nice spot to call it a night with Rainier in our view. Honestly, we didn’t even know Rainier was there for the first fifteen minutes, since it was hiding behind clouds, as it frequently does. A few minutes into our stay it peeked out and surprised us, again as it frequently does.
We enjoyed a night of peace and quiet, but by morning I was on a mission to get closer to the beast. Rainier was in our view, but I really thought we could get right up near the pile of gold this dragon guards without being noticed. Kerri agreed, so we headed back down the mountain to the highway for a half-hour drive on asphalt before turning onto dirt to climb a new path. That road did not play nice with us. Very uncomfortable. After ten miles of bouncing over rocks and hanging our tires off cliffs, we came to a dead end of nothing. We turned around. A mile or so back was a “site” that had caught our attention on the way in. It had just enough room to park Marcel off the road (not that we expected anyone to drive by), and it commanded the view, practically at the feet of Rainier. The mountain was huge, filling most of what could be seen without a fish-eye lens. It was epic, as Rainier often is when this close. Another peaceful night ensued. It was getting a little cool this time of year, but cool is good.
In the morning we had to trek back down the mountain and return to the house to help with the mom-sitting for three more days while my sister flew out to California. This is a me-thing, so Kerri made plans to take Marcel out to Port Townsend on her own for a couple days while I stayed back at the house. She had driven Marcel once for about an hour, but never taken the big van out alone. Even though I knew she was perfectly capable (she was driving a full-sized truck and towing a 27-foot trailer when we met), I was still stressed that Marcel would make her life difficult in one way or another. He didn’t, but my stress level didn’t come down until she returned. I literally spent the whole time sitting in the house in silence, staring at the front door like a dog waiting for his owner, until she pulled back into the driveway. I ran to her, tail just about wagging, gave her a big hug, and thanked Marcel for being a good van.
Then I saw it. Gasoline dripping from the undercarriage…
Kerri speaks;
A little under two weeks since we returned from Ireland, mostly spent doing family business, but we took a couple nights’ sabbatical down in the national forests. Our first chosen spot came with a surprise. We picked it for the sweeping view of the valley, but once we settled in, the clouds began to part, and whoomp! there it was! Mt Tahoma in all its glory. In this region, there’s a commonly used phrase when Tahoma (Ranier) shows herself: “The mountain is out.” Sometimes, she’s so infrequently seen — and so prominently imposing once she is — that you’ll glance in her direction and actually have a jump scare. Since great views are essentially a progressive drug, the next morning, we went looking for an even better vantage point to spend one more night and found it. Fall mushroom season has fully kicked in, and I found some shaggy manes (Coprinus comatus) roadside on the drive up. On the way back down there was a spot that looked just right right for chanterelles, so I stopped and within two minutes found a path of some of the most beautiful Cantharellus formosus Ive ever foraged. Then back to town for more family business, but I took a short solo two-night foray back for a hit of Port Townsend, and soaking in the atmosphere and time with an old friend was so worth the drive. Now we’re many again for a few weeks until we return for more family business. Some major change of scenery coming up…
