Mount Rainier

On my last Sunday in Seattle I decided to rent a car and drive out to Mount Rainier National Park. It was only about an hour and a half drive to the park entrance. The park is very large with numerous trails and scenic overlooks. It was not the best day to visit, but it was the last day I had left so I went anyway. The high temperature at the main gate was going to be about 55 and at the Paradise overlook (5,500 feet) about 45. It was overcast for most of the day, until I had to leave to return the car in Seattle at about 5pm.

Front Gate 

The Pacific Crest Trail runs from Mexico to Canada through several mountain ranges, and also circles Mount Rainier in the process. The section that runs through the National Park is called the Wonderland Trail and is approximately 90 miles and has elevation changes of about 22,000 feet. This is a foot bridge that is part of the trail, which I followed for a while in the afternoon.

Don't lose your balance on the footbridge... 

One of the visitor centers was called Paradise, which is about 5,500 foot elevation. As you can see there was a lot of snow left, even in June. This was one of the few times during the day that the clouds broke and the summit was visible. Several people were hiking in the snow, many of which had never seen snow before. It was quite amusing to see all of them who bought full snowsuits, snowshoes, and ski poles for walking on a snow trail. I did get questioned several times for walking in the snow with just my tennis shoes, jeans, and sweatshirt.

Just recently the hotel at Paradise reopened. It looked like a good place to stay during the summer, but there are pictures in the winter of the roof being completely covered with snow.

One of the few glimpses of wildlife during the day

This is the reflection lake. During the summer, the summit makes a good reflection off the lake here... not so much today, however.

The main visitors center is called Longmire for the family that originally settled there in the late 1800s. They made their home near a meadow that they later discovered to be a mineral spring. I believe the orange water here is filled with iron. The family started marketing the mineral springs to have healing power, and built baths for guests to visit.

There were several bridges during the day, and on every one I had a strong desire to bounce a golf ball across.

This deer was not frightened by people at all, and was eating right next to the trail. It is slightly different than the frightened reaction back home.

This cougar was shot near the park entrance in the early 1900s by a ranger, and has been on display in the visitors center ever since.

When I was just about to leave for the day, the clouds decided to break up, and I did get a nice view of the mountain. It was too bad I was not able to stay longer, as the weather became very nice.

Overall, the pictures do not give justice to the incredible sights at the park. It was a day well spent.

West Seattle

The last Saturday I was in town, I decided to go to Alki Beach, which is in West Seattle. I heard it was a great place to go, and had one of the few beaches in the area. Not having a car made travel more difficult, and the bus system did not have a very good way to get there. When I left, it was sunny out, but it clouded over by the time I arrived at the beach. It was still very nice out, except the water was incredibly cold still.

One of the Ferries in the Sound

Cruise ship leaving the Sound

I walked the length of the beach over to the location of the water taxi, which runs between West Seattle and Downtown. While I was waiting for this, I noticed there were several jellyfish in the water right next to the dock. I never would have expected jellyfish in this water.

Seattle Underground Tour

After the Aquarium I was walking back to the light rail station in Pioneer Square, the original center of the city. I had heard about the tour of Seattle's underground, and decided to go on it since it was starting in 2 minutes. In 1889, there was a massive fire that burned down 32 city blocks of the central business district of the time. At the time, the buildings were not very high above the water level, and the roads were incredibly poor. This prompted the city to build up the streets and buildings one story or about 12 feet. The city said it would take about 5 years to rebuild the 32 blocks that burned along with new roads, but the businesses were not happy with that answer since they had just lost their only source of revenue. Since the city only owned the streets and sidewalks, the business owners went right ahead and rebuild their stores at the same time the city was building up the streets. Well this caused a slight problem as the store fronts (on the sidewalk) were 12 feet below street level, and to cross the street you had to go up and down ladders at each corner of the street. The city's solution was to build the new sidewalk at street level, but put glass in to allow light to reach the original sidewalks 12 feet below. Today some of the original sidewalks are available, most have been turned into extended basement storage for the businesses there today.

The first 3 pictures are in the original first floor of a general store of the time.

These are the windows that would have looked out into the street, now it is just the side of the new street.

This is from a butcher shop on the block. The floor is collapsing on itself, which is common for most of the original floors of the time. Being so close to the waterfront, the businesses had to build up above water level. Since dirt was not easy to come by, they often used garbage or sawdust, which were very easy to come by in a lumber community.

Collapsing floor.

When the city finally put the sidewalks at the new street level, they build brick archways between steel beams for support.

Each block has a few glass inlays to allow light into the original sidewalk spaces. 

Around the time of the fire, there was also a gold rush in the Northwest. Once prospectors found gold, it was not always safe to carry it around the streets, so they took their gold into the underground sidewalks. One bank build a vault in the underground so the prospectors could deposit their gold without walking around with it for so long.

This is the Smith Tower which was built in 1914, and was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931.

Pioneer Square before the fire

Since the sewage system was not designed well in Seattle, running water was a problem in the city. High tide came in two times a day and would engulf the drainage pipes that led to the water, causing sewage backups in homes. For years, people had charts of when the tide was high and low to determine when they could flush their toilets. The solution: the Crapper Valveless Waste Preventer.