Canoeing at 5000 feet (lots of pics)

Mowich lake is on the north western side of Mt Rainier. The last 16 miles up to it is a gnarly switch backing gravel road. But it's a beautiful lake with a some great hikes that start there also. I have been waiting several weeks for the lake to thaw out. 11 days ago my niece was there and it was completely frozen.

Hauling the canoe down to the lake from the parking lot. The snow made it a bit easier.
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A mini island not far from where we launched at with the tip of Rainer showing.
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Those logs were 4-5' under the water. The lake is feed with snow melt water and is extremely cold.
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The east side of the lake had dozens of water falls and creeks draining into it fresh from the snow fields.
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We found a large waterfall with a small patch of beach to grab lunch and climb the falls.
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Mid afternoon we met up with my sister and her daughter to go on a 4 mile hike. The trail starts right at the lake parking lot.

Miss Grace and her crazy uncle taking a spin across the lake.
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The trail up to Eagles Roost also had dozens of creeks and waterfalls.
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Avalanche lily. They are the first of the alpine flowers to bloom. They will poke up through the snow and bloom before it even melts.
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Eagles Roost lookout. Mt Rainier, 14,410 feet. One of the best views of it in the entire park. Even though it's a two hr hike to get to thwe lookout.
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My sis, niece and Jessica. This is the first time in a couple months we got to visit.
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My daughter ends up shooting most of the video since I am maneuvering the canoe around. She still is a bit shaky and the canoe is also not the most stable to shoot from. So take some Dramamine or skip it if you have a mig percolating.

Awesome!!!! I'm a bit jealous.

I always have an open invitation to anyone visiting here to show or take you to some of the nice areas. We met a couple visiting from Holland in the parking lot and I was able to show them some of the good hikes in the park right on their park map.

They were telling us the highest spot in Holland is less then 300' and there is no where to go to get away from people. They were beyond amazed to see the mountains here and will be spending several days here and then in the Rockies.

Just one more reason to visit the National Parks. You almost always get to meet people from other countries and many times hike with them.

Every time I go up to Lassen I am amazed at the ratio of Americans to Eurpoeans. It's usually 3 to 4 times as many Europeans than Americans. Europeans appreciate our National Parks so much more than most Americans. I always have fun chatting with them and sharing what little knowledge I have. Sometimes I think we are too complacent about our natural wonders.

Our country is still young. We haven't built up as much as Europe and have much more open space and land that is protected. I hope that we are able to keep all our parks and that in another 500 years, people are still enjoying them.

Reminds me a lot of Tasmania Brent. Although not quite as many mountains down there.

You might like this site

http://tasmania.bushwalk.com/forum/

They are a nice group of people on the forum and perhaps you can compare notes.

Thanks for posting that link. I will have to go through every single topic. When it comes to natures incredible scenery I can't get enough of it.

Even though CA is only one state away from me I know only a few places to visit except the few I have been to. So I hope everyone here posts some pics of their local parks and scenery. Especially the secret less known areas that even many of the locals don't know about.

Only a couple people I know have been to Mowich lake. People that only live a hours drive from it have never heard of it. They may have visited several areas of the park many times. But never checked out the little hidden gems. I have hiked close to 75% of the trails but I am always on the lookout for the little known areas I may not have visited yet.

And I really want to share that scenery with those that may never visit Western WA. Or may visit but only see the high profile hyper touristy areas. The snow is just melted enough that I will start hiking some of the higher trails. The real beauty of the park can only be seen on foot.

If I can't drag all of you along in person I can at least give you a photo tour.

Thanks for the pictures! You're inspiring me to think of getting out my camera more! Actually I did take a couple pictures of Justice eating my popsicle, just to show you how funny it is that my dog is addicted to the cold treats, but I haven't gotten around to uploading them to my computer and won't do so tonight. It's almost 4 a.m. here, and I'm only up because my head is keeping me up, but it's not quite bad enough to kick me off the computer, which I just got on to catch up on the last couple days' worth of emails and postings.

I definitely plan to take my camera with me to Hume Lake when I go for Labor Day and the following week, and I'll get more nature shots up there. That is between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and is just gorgeous. My dad built his own cabin (by himself, with very little help from others) up there, and it's a home away from home and always the place I think of when relaxation or hyposis stuff say to think of the most peaceful, nicest place you can think of.

I just looked up Hume Lake and I really hope you post some pics. It looks like a great place with some very nice scenery.

A picture is worth a thousand words so they are easier to post anyway.