Kylan joined us on our second Mt. Rainier jaunt, but he was so far ahead most of the time that I only got this shot of him, Paul, and Leslie when we discovered we were heading in the wrong direction, which wasn’t all bad because it led to a pretty viewpoint and added a mile to our hike.
We try to explore new trails while also pushing ourselves a little harder on each hike. The Sheep Lake trail is an easy to moderate hike that wasn’t supposed to be as crowded as other hikes we’ve been on recently, but the parking lot was nearly full and there was a large group of youngsters the day we visited.
Despite the grey skies, it was warmer on the east side of the mountains, which the flowers seemed to appreciate more than I did. There were lots of flowers like these deep red paintbrush
and this exquisite yellow flower.
We had lunch on the far side of the Sheep Lake but still couldn’t avoid the noise from the kids squealing while swimming in what must have been an extremely cold lake.
Apparently, the Gray Jays preferred our company to the rambunctious kids since they dropped by just as we were finishing lunch.
We talked about climbing to the top of a ridge further on the trail,
but it was a cloudy day and a long way to the top, so we thought it would be wiser to save that hike when we were in a little better shape and we could get a better view of Mt. Rainier when we reached the pass.
Instead, we settled for a walk back down the flower-covered ridge,
immersed in a different kind of beauty.