2011 Edition
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Another nice, warm, sunny day. A little chilly the last hour but a nice ride
all the same. At 400 miles, this was a long "sightseeing" ride. We left early
(09:00) and returned home at 21:00 so it was a very full day.
We were out this way last year but the cloud cover was so low that you couldn't see
anything. Pics of that ride are
HERE.
This is about as close to Mount Rainier as you can get without hiking in. The
Sunrise viewpoint is even closer to the mountain than
Paradise.
Skyline Boulevard to Cornelius Pass Highway. Route 30 West to Rainier, Oregon.
Cross the Columbia River into Longview, Washington and then I-5 North to SR 12.
Stopped along SR 12 just before turning North on SR 7 at Morton to look at the
now underwater towns of Riffe and Kosmos, Washington. Gee... thanks for building
a dam out there in 1968....
Some pretty good views of Mount Rainier in Eatonville, Washington, which is about
60 miles West of where we're headed. We took SR 7 to SR 161 to SR 162 East, into
Enumclaw, Washington.
There's a lot of soot pollution in the air. So much so that it prevented me from
touching up this shot and removing the power line from the frame.
This is the turn-off for our destination: Sunrise. It's about 15 miles up a well
paved road, although there is a lot of pea gravel so you need to take it easy on a
motorcycle. This is a National Park so it's $5 to get in unless you have an annual
(or a lifetime senior geezer) pass. Took a few pictures at the viewpoint just beyond
the entrance. The best views of Mount Rainier if you don't want to pay to get in the
park is 1/2 mile East of the Sunrise entrance on SR 410. It's about 10 miles West of
Cayuse Pass. A nice, clear day for a change...got a LOT of great pictures that follow.
Finding gas was not a problem, even on this holiday weekend. There's a general store
15 or so miles East of Enumclaw that has gas (although it was crowded). There's also
gas in Packwood and Randle. FR 25 from Randle to Cougar is still closed due to snow
which was kind of a bummer. Had to return on SR 12 which is not the most interesting
64 mile ride.
And off we go, into the National Park.
There's more pictures taken at the Sunrise Visitors Center
HERE.
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