Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier National Park.
Had a great hike with some beautiful scenery. On the way up I met four women headed to base to have lunch. They were trying to take a selfie when I offered to take a picture for them. They were super nice and appreciative.
Here is a picture of them coming up the trail. I met them again on the way back down and we had a great conversation. Melinda-hiker-kayaker was awesome. I told them about my trip and upcoming book and they became fans. They were a lot of fun.
Here is a picture from their picnic spot.
After my hike I went back to camp and saw the fellow in the camp site next to me struggling to get his moped back on his very nice Mercedes RV. I offered my help and we eventually got it back up on its stand. Normally he uses a ramp but because of the angles at our sites it was more difficult than he thought it would be. Afterwards, he offered a cold beer for payment. How could I say no. His name is Kaz and he is a Mechanical Engineer from Olympia Washington. We hit it off and later we had wine and talked into the night around his campfire.
He immigrated from communist Poland via Austria back in 1983. It was interesting that his political views almost mirror mine. Especially that his perspective is filtered from having come from a communist country. He is also a huge outdoors man, having hiked and camped all over the North West. He suggested that I head down to Crater Lake in Oregon and then to Brice and Zion in Utah. I think I will take him up on his suggestion. All in all an excellent day.
