We had dinner at Wildberry Restaurant along state route 706 near Mt. Rainier National Park on Saturday, September 29, 2012. During the week before, my wife learned that Mt. Rainier National Park would have free admission on Saturday, September 29. We thought this would be a good opportunity to see some of the park since some facilities such as the Paradise Inn were scheduled to close for winter after September and the forecast said the weather would be sunny in the afternoon. We did research on places to hike in the park and places to eat either in or near the park. Possibilities included the restaurant at the Paradise Inn and the restaurant at the Copper Creek Inn in nearby Ashford. We decided to hike in the Paradise region of the park since it was only open through September while the Longmire region was open year round. We picked a moderate hike: the Bench and Snow Lakes trail. From the website we also learned about the Ten Essentials that they strongly recommended bringing on all hikes. The Ten essentials consist of a compass, pocket knife, flashlight, food, a map, extra clothing/rain gear, emergency shelter, first aid kit, sunglasses, suncream, and matches. We were able to gather together the compass, pocket knife, flashlight, food, outerwears, and bandaids.
In the morning of September 29 we had breakfast at The Swiss. It was the first day they started serving breakfast on the weekends. The weather was cloudy and cool. My wife ordered the southwest omelet with tots while I got two eggs over easy with home fries. We admired the artwork of different fish made with bottlecaps for scales and slices of aluminum cans for fins. The caps came from different microbrews in the northwest. There were all different fish including salmon and halibut. Each one cost $250. After we left the Swiss, I realized that they forgot to give me the bacon that came with the eggs.
We left for Mt. Rainier National Park at 10:20 a.m. We took Pacific Avenue most of the way that became state highway 7 after crossing S. 38th St. There were mostly businesses along Pacific such as tire and automotive shops, bars, Mexican restaurants, and later pawn shops and check cashing places. There were also houses and apartments, a few schools, a Fred Meyer and much later a Fred Meyer Marketplace. The cross streets were almost all numbered and kept going up. After we crossed S. 96th we were no longer in Tacoma and in the unincorporated part of Pierce County known as Parkland. We drove near the Brooksdale section where Pacific Lutheran University was two blocks to the west. A few miles later we were in Spanaway with JBLM reservation to our right. At a triangular intersection, Pacific Avenue split in two with Spanaway, McKenna Highway (SR 507) to the right and Mountain Highway (SR 7) to the left. We took the latter. The farther we went, the less settled the land and more wooded. There were still feed stores and a Walmart.
We drove through Loveland and Elk Plain. The numbered streets grew to the 300s. Cross streets became more sparse. Past 340th street we saw signs saying that state route 7 was closed 9 miles ahead due to road work. We turned left at Eatonville Cutoff Road that went southeast but we saw in the Thomas Guide that it met route 161 that went back to route 7. Eatonville Cutoff Road was more wooded and somewhat hilly. We turned right at Meridian E/route 161 that turned east into the town of Eatonville. There were signs and some houses and buildings. The speed limit slowed us to 25 mph. Once in town we saw signs for the route 7 detour. They said to turn left at Alder Cut Off Road E. This was even more winding and wooded than Eatonville Cutoff Road. For much of the way it ran parallel to a railroad. When it reached route 7 we could see Alder Lake. We turned right and drove some more along the long Alder Lake, again parallel to railroad tracks. In the small town of Elbe, we saw many train cars parked. There was a restaurant in a couple of dining cars and the smallest church in Washington, that was white and had a tall roof and steeple for its small size.
We reached the intersection where state route 7/Mountain Hwy E continue east as the 706 and turned south on a bridge as route 7. We went on the 706 east. There were several inns, farms, and restaurants. After crossing Kernahan Road E, we saw the red building of the Copper Creek Inn on the left. After that we saw a restaurant that looked pretty good, Wildberry Restaurant. The signs said they served yak burgers and Nepalese food. We soon arrived at the park entrance. Regular admission is $14, but it was free that day. An employee handed us the park newspaper, the Tahoma News, for Sept. 4-Dec. 31, 2012 and a flyer on Washington’s National Park Fund. We continued to drive on the 706 that now had very tall evergreen trees on either side. We seemed to be climbing. The road became more winding. We crossed Tahoma creek and to the right we could see the wide Nisqually river valley.
We crossed Kauty Creek and soon drove through the Longmire region. We passed the National Park Inn and the Longmire museum and the entrance to Cougar Rock Campground. There were three hairpin turns, the third very sharp. We passed Christine Falls and crossed the bridge over the Nisqually River. As we climbed the views of the hills with evergreen trees got better and better. We climbed some more and passed Narada Falls in the Paradise area of the park. After driving through two opposing hairpin turns our plan was to turn right onto Stevens Canyon Road and go to the Bench and Snow Lakes Trail. Unfortunately, that route was closed and we had to change our plans. We kept left at the intersection, drove some winding roads past the picnic area and turned left into the lower parking lot, a long U-shaped lot where cars entered at the 2nd, upper, part, and exited from the 1st lower part. There were many cars parked there but still plenty of space. It was cloudy, chilly, and low visibility due to the fog, but it wasn’t too cold for our fleece jackets. We arrived there at 12:40 p.m.
We found the trailhead of our “plan B” hiking choice, the Deadhorse Creek Trail. There was a map board of the trails and a notice warning of a mountain lion. It said not to run, shout, or wave arms but rather to stand together with companions, make yourself look large, pick up small children, and if attacked to fight back aggressively. The trail was made of dark pavement. After passing the fork to the Nisqually Vista we saw some deer feeding along the left side of the trail along and within a small ravine. First we saw an adult deer with a young deer and then a separate group of two adult deer with a young deer. The trail went through meadows with small and medium-sized evergreen trees. It still had an incline and the fog and clouds hampered visibility. The smell was similar to natural fertilizer. There were many other people out hiking, many of different races and nationalities. Many brought children, either walking along or carried on their backs. Along the trail were signs telling us to stay on the trail to preserve nature. There were also log benches for resting.
We reached where the Deadhorse Creek Trail merged with the Skyline Trail. That trail changed from paved to gravel lined with rocks on either side. It got steeper and became irregular steps of stacked stones. We took a detour to the left to take the Glacier Vista Trail. To our left was a steep slope, but it was too cloudy to see Nisqually Glacier beyond the slope. We saw some large patches of snow covered in dirt. We reached Glacier Vista where the sign said 6,300 feet. Since the Paradise Inn above the parking lot is at 5,400 feet, and above where we parked, it means we hiked up over 900 feet. On top of the Glacier Vista sign was a marshmallow peep. The Glacier Vista Trail reconnected to the Skyline Trail and we decided to head back down. We had to carefully step down the steps made of irregular stone slabs. By that time there were even more people out hiking. After what seemed like a lot of steps we reached the gravel and then the paved parts of the Skyline trail. There were still occasional steps.
As we descended the terrain became more green and like the sloped meadows we saw along the Deadhorse Creek Trail. The visibility to the south and east also cleared up. We could see the dark hills to the south, the basin to the east and the trail on the other side of it. It had a footbridge and many steps. I later learned from the printed trail map that it the other end of the Skyline Trail loop. We reached the intersection with the two Alta Vista trails. One led up a hill, and the other to the left. On the left was some bright red vegetation. We took a photo of it and a man sitting on a log bench offered to take our photo, so long as he didn’t have to get up. He said he was out hiking at the request of his son. We walked along the left trail rather than up the hill to the viewpoint and we were right in the bright red vegetation. We arrived back at the Skyline Trail that was still steep in places. Forks led to the Paradise Inn and to other trails. It was nearly 3 p.m. when we descended the proper stairs to the visitor center. We had been hiking for over two hours.
The Henry Jackson Visitor Center was a large A-frame style building crowded with people. We saw that they scheduled short films about the park every 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. The visitor center was open until 6 p.m. that day. We didn’t spend much time there because my wife saw a notice stating that a tour was scheduled at the Paradise Inn at 3 p.m. We rushed over there past another A-frame building that housed the climbing resource center. The Paradise Inn is also a long A-frame building, though more rugged-looking than the others including its numerous annexes. Logs extend from the edges of the roof at an angle to the ground. We found the main entrance on the north side and the tour group gathered around an older (better) man in a National Park Service uniform in front of a fireplace. It was a fairly large group of around 20 people seated on couches and chairs around a coffee table. We found space at a high table at some stools. Behind the sofas was a very large and thick table of light-colored wood where more people sat.
The tour/lecture covered the history of the Paradise Inn from its original construction in 1916-1917 to the renovation in the late 2000s. It was the brainchild of Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman and outdoor enthusiast who was appointed the first director of the National Park Service. He imagined it as a place for hikers to gather and discuss their adventures. He had it built like a log cabin and hired a German carpenter to build the large tables, armchairs, clock, and piano. The original inn was built without any nails or rivets. Most of them and much of the structure itself was made of Alaskan Yellow cedar. Much of the early clientele weren’t hikers but rich people dressed in fancy clothes. They later built a catwalk to strengthen the structure. The original Inn had 34 rooms. They added an annex building with 100 rooms. He talked about and showed old photos of different promotional schemes for the Inn such as photos of young women in swimsuits hiking, young women as “spirits of nature,” dogsleds, people feeding wildlife, a golf course, glissading, and horseback riding. None of the schemes really worked out in the long run. He told a few stories of a cowboy named Jolly.
The Paradise Inn suffered much wear and tear due to the 19 feet of snow and due to Mt. Rainier being an active volcano subjecting the inn to many small earthquakes every year. The NPS acquired the inn and it underwent a major renovation between 2006 and 2008. Since it was added to the register of historic places, they couldn’t change the appearance. Something they did was put metal beams in the logs to strengthen them. They also removed the cocktail lounge. However they weren’t allowed to convert the single pane windows to double pane. The guide said his favorite thing about the Inn was that people could just unplug and relax since they didn’t have wi-fi and most cellphones didn’t work up there. So it was more of a lecture than a tour. At the end he did have us walk over to the wall to look at some old photos. One from the 1930s showed the lobby with Navajo blankets giving it more of a southwest theme. He pointed out the Paradise Inn ghost in the photo.
The tour lasted nearly one hour. After it ended we looked around the gift shop that had some black bear figurines that were similar to a cookie jar we have. We climbed the stairs to the catwalk that was lined with small tables and desks where people could sit and write in their manly notebooks. From the ceiling hung large cylindrical paper lanterns with paintings of plants and flowers found in the mountains outside. It was nearly 4:30 when we left the Inn to return to our car. We followed a trail that ran laterally back to the lower parking lot. From there we drove back the way we came through all the hairpin turns, past Longmire, across and later parallel to the Nisqually River. The road veered to the right as it left the park and we were back on state route 706.
We decided to have dinner at Wildberry restaurant that we had seen earlier on our way to the park. It was east of the Copper Creek Inn and on the south side of the highway. When we saw it we turned left and parked right in front. We arrived at around 5:20 p.m. It was in a small houselike building. The dining room was small to medium-sized, decorated with pictures of Nepal, Jansport climbing posters, wool earflap hats and Tibetan prayer flags. They sold gifts such as beads, wool hats, and flags on some display shelves. One climbing poster was autographed by famous climber Lou Whittaker. Over the speakers they played what sounded like Indian music. A few other tables were occupied and many other parties came as we had dinner. I never figured out whether they served Coke or Pepsi products. My wife ordered Sherpa milk tea for drink. It smelled good with its cardamom and cinnamon. The list of alcoholic drinks included Elysian Mens Room beer, Sam Adams “Larger” and Rainier Ridge chardonnay.
The menus consisted of booklets of 2-3 pages and a laminated insert. The booklets mostly listed American foods such as burgers and pasta. It did list momos as appetizers. The Nepalese foods were listed on the laminated insert and included curries, vegetarian and beef momos or dumplings, and Sherpa Stew that came with a “home-mad little load of bread.” The prices ranged from $7.99 to $17.99 for the Nepalese foods. The yak burger wasn’t listed on the menu but rather as a special on a white board behind the counter for $13.99. We placed our orders. As we waited we overheard a couple at a table near us order the same things we did for entrees. Unlike us they also ordered the momo appetizer. They soon brought our orders. My wife got the yak burger that came with all the fixins including dressing and a pile of large crispy fries. She enjoyed the burger and I helped her with the fries. I could have them with ketchup since it was Hunts organic.
I got the Sherpa stew that came in a bowl on a plate along with the home-mad little load of bread. It was a hearty and thick stew with chunks of potato, carrot, some kind of squash, beef, and flour dumplings. The Nepalese spices gave it a lot of flavor and it was great for soaking the home-mad bread. It wasn’t an excessive amount of food and I was able to supplement with some of my wife’s fries. My wife had the berry cobbler for dessert that looked like it was made of blackberries and crispy flour dumplings and a large scoop of ice cream on top. It was listed as a special on the white board for $7.99.
We left Wildberry Restaurant at around 6:20 p.m. and took the reverse route back from the morning: Alder Cutoff Road to the 161 to Eatonville Cutoff Road to route 7 as Mountain Ave. and Pacific Ave. Driving north on Pacific we saw a billboard for the Maestro exhibit at the Museum of Glass. The ride home seemed to go faster and we made it home before 8 p.m.
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