One of these years I would like to visit Mount St. Helens and Mt. Rainier in the summer. I've been to Mount St. Helens twice and both times it was in the shoulder seasons, which means it was cold and gray. Its still worth seeing, though. Three years ago when I visited Mount St. Helens the the mountain was steaming a bit... I couldn't tell if it was steaming this time or not, as there was too much wind and too many clouds. It looked like it was, but I can't be sure.
Above: My trusty Honda Element (now 100,000+ miles and going strong!) with Mount St. Helens in the background.
After visiting Mount St. Helens I decided to drive up and see Mt. Rainier as well, since the two mountains really aren't that far apart. This was my first visit to Rainier, and it sure made me want to go back when the weather is nicer. The first few miles of the park road winds through some very dense forest with some HUGE trees... after those first few miles the terrain starts to open up a little bit and before long you're into some pretty serious snow. Unfortunately the further up the mountain I went, it soon became apparent that I probably wasn't going to be able to see the summit. Sure enough, when I got to the Paradise Visitor Center, the summit was shrouded in fog/haze and blowing snow. Bummer. But, at the same time, that's an excuse to come back for another visit :-)
There was a LOT of snow at the end of the road, and this is only the first week of December! I can't imagine how big these snowbanks will be in another couple of months! The image above shows my car next to a snowbank on the side of the road near the Paradise Visitor Center.
Above and below: A couple of views of the road up to the Paradise Visitor Center.
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