Kim, Jake and I drove down to Mount Rainier this Friday to go camping and hiking. We got in a little late and camped at the Ohanepecosh campground, which we found out later you can reserve spot for online. But who really wants to reserve a site before they see it? They don’t post which sites are reserved at the camp site, which is a royal pain. We picked two sites, and both times we went to register and found out they were reserved. Fortunately, the campground is huge, so we went to H loop and finally found a nice spot, isolated but still close to the comfort station (their euphemism, not mine).
Jake’s brother Judd and his girlfriend Sherri met us Saturday morning and got a site next to us. Jake and Judd look and awful lot alike. They brought their two dogs with them, which almost seemed a shame since they’re not allowed on most of the hiking trails. We hiked up the summer land trail, and it was beautiful out. We took our time, enjoyed the trees, flowers, and views of Rainier. On the way down we even saw a black bear a ways off.
Back at camp Sherri and Judd had burrito fixings that seemed gourmet for camping. They were nice enough to share them with us after we used a tent pole with a bungi cord hook to unlock Sherri’s truck, where she thought she had locked her keys (turned out after we broke in that they were in her fanny pack). Jake and I had some opportunities to talk a lot about politics, religion, society, and books, and it was good conversation. Jake is quite a bit more conservative than I am, and it’s rare that I get to talk to anyone politically conservative and still feel that I’m having an intelligent conversation.
Sherri and Judd left Sunday morning, but Jake, Kim and I went and hiked near Paradise. It was a little overcast, but it was still a nice short hike and we saw a marmot like animal and a pretty waterfall. We got back Sunday evening and there were chores to do that I had been putting off, but it was worth it to have a nice weekend outdoors.