JO, Micky and I tried to ride up to Sunrise @ Mt Rainier Nat'l Park in the spring, but the road was unexpectedly closed. I've visited Mt Rainier Nat'l Park a bunch of times every year for the last decade, but I've never been to Sunrise. This summer I've hardly done any riding 'cause work's been busy, but I got a chance to take to the road this weekend.
I left Oly late Friday afternoon and ended up camping a little NE of Mt Saint Helens. I awoke early and uncomfortably to a thick fog, had some oatmeal at the diner in Randle and debated heading home, but the sun was starting to poke through in the east and I decided to make way for Sunrise.
The road up to Sunrise was fogged-in like pea soup but cleared up perfectly near the top when I arrive around 9am. Services there open at 10am so I wandered on foot for a hour and then had some coffee and a bagel for $9. Chatted with a rider from E OR and a 2-up couple from Italy, then headed to Paradise. Being a Saturday in August, the park was filling up quickly. I've never seen so many vehicles at Paradise, it was packed.
Headed home around 2 before the outbound traffic got too nasty.
