Wednesday, July 11, 2007

How Mount Rainier changed my life

I remember several trips to Mount Rainier as a very young child. I remember hiking out trails before the snow melted off and being forced to turn back when a cliff side trail dissappeared beneath a massive drift. I remember a morning by a mountain lake followed by torrential downpours that chased us off the mountain. I think my sister and I were even carried by a ranger for part of that trip. I remember sledding on a slope of Mount Rainier. I remember trying to swim in glacier fed, crystal clear rivers, barely above freezing. I remember drives with plummeting mountain sides made even steeper to my young mind by the trunks of evergreens barely steeper than they.

All of my memories of this great mountain are fond, even the ones that maybe shouldn’t be. Mount Rainier inspires my soul. I’m glad for Mount Rainier.

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