Sunday morning I woke up in a comfortable bed, it was nice. We had a lazy day where we did not do much of anything. I got a tour of Kelly’s and Dirk’s mushroom grow house and learned a bit about growing exotic mushrooms. They are members of a co op that sells mushrooms to restaurants and such. They are just getting started and experimenting with different types of mushrooms to see what grows best in their environment.
After I finished updating my blog we went out for a little tour of Shelton and then lunch. Some of the places they had in mind were not open on Sunday but we found a nice tavern overlooking a small lake.
I spent one more night in a bed and then Monday packed up my gear and headed to Mount Rainier National Park. The ride there was only about 125 miles and I arrived in the early afternoon. I rode up to Sunrise visitors center which is above 6000 feet and gives a nice view of the Emmons glacier on the east side of the mountain. The view is pretty amazing and I waited around a while for some clouds to clear and give a complete view of the peak. The road up to Sunrise is very fun and I did not have to deal with too many cars. Again the speed limits are posted to ensure I do not abide by them. On the way down I had a clear road and in one section that is really twisty I had great fun. I neglected to turn on my GoPro to record my awesome riding skills. Trust me, I was braking late into the corners and hitting the apex just right to set up for the next corner. There were several stretches of left-right-left-right-… that were great fun to traverse from one lean to the next.
I found a nice spot in the White River campground and after setting my tent went for a hike. The forest here is lush and dense and very inviting to tramp through. I followed the trail that leads to Glacier basin for a mile or so and then made my way down to the river and worked back along its path. It is a very steep river and really moves fast. The water is off of the glacier and ice cold. There are a number of small side streams that feed into it from the adjacent mountain. All of the rocks are fine-grained and I believe igneous being that the mountain is a volcano. The forest coming down to the edge was very nice and I found a number of elk tracks but did not see anything larger than a squirrel.
Tomorrow I will ride through the rest of the park and then down the east side of Mount St. Helens and into Oregon. I do not have any set destination for tomorrow night. I can sense now that I am a lot closer to home than I have been for quite a while but I don’t need to rush there except that I miss Sandy so that is luring me there.
My Motorcycle Adventure to Alaska 