Silver Falls & Grove of the Patriarchs

Silver Falls




Grove of the Patriarchs

It's understandable that many people who visit Mount Rainier go there to see the grand vistas that come with being the most prominent peak in the lower 48. It is also, then, understandable that most of those people wait until a sunny day to visit.

But, to me, one of the things that makes Mount Rainier NP such a special place is the wealth of different types of climates that you can find inside a relatively small area. Views obstructed by a layer of pea-soup fog? No problem, there's still plenty of amazing stuff to see.

My parents are here visiting for the holiday weekend and on Friday they wanted to go hiking. We drove to the SE corner of the park and during the course of a 4 mile hike saw two of it's numerous highlights:

Silver Falls isn't the tallest waterfall around, but it's one of the most impressive I've seen. Instead of being a picturesque, graceful veil (like some others I can think of), it's a violent torrent, one step in the way of a river that seems to be in an terrible hurry to get down the mountain.

A couple miles upstream the land is flat but the river moves with no less urgency. Hidden on an island, protected from fire and inaccessible to humans except for a pedestrian suspension bridge, is the Grove of the Patriarchs. These are some of the biggest trees in the park, and the grove is one of the most impressive stands of giant trees in the world.

Douglas Firs can grow to be 300 ft tall, making them second only to Redwoods in height. Along with the slightly smaller (but no less impressive) western hemlock and western red cedar, the giant firs make the Grove an almost spiritual place. It reminds me of being in a cathedral: people hush their voices and walk slowly, in awe of their surroundings.

The pictures from the day are here.