Mount Rainier

We have been trying to do more Nature Study a la Charlotte Mason style, so last weekend we went up to Mount Rainier National Park. We are all sick again (it has been a rough summer around here healthwise between Noah getting mono & croup and now our second round of colds) so as I sit here nursing the sniffles, I thought I'd share some pictures with you :).

Nearly as soon as we arrived, Noah spotted a small beetle on a Mountain Daisy, so we pulled out the magnifying glass to take a closer look. We have been starting a nature collection (so far we are up to a peacock tailfeather and a pinecone) but flower picking in national parks is not allowed, so we came home with only pictures from this trip.

Nate had to try and figure out this magnifying glass thing too. The Pearly Everlasting was so beautiful!

There were hundreds if not thousands of people in the park, but since about 95% of visitors never leave the parking lot, once we were up on the trails it was nice and peaceful :).

The Mountain was covered in clouds naturally (it is WA after all!) but we still got some beautiful meadow views.

I am such a waterfall girl! I have been known to hike some crazy steep and difficult trails to get to a waterfall! Luckily, we have lots of them here in the beautiful Northwest! I love the way the mist was rolling in over this ridge too.



Mount Rainier is also home to a host of unique wildflowers that can only be found in a few locations worldwide. Here by the creek are some Monkeyflowers and Jeffrey's Shooting Stars (so named because their black tips and pink petals look just like a shooting star). I was also able to pick up a couple of wildflower and bird identification books at the gift shop. I can't wait to start ID'ing the birds at the bird feeder!

We did just a short hike up to Christine Falls (another waterfall!) of about a mile.

Noah and I climbed around in the rocks and waded a bit (Nate was in the backpack with Dad) and we came home refreshed for the week and looking forward to our next nature hike (which will now have to be postponed a week while we all recover). I hope you all are enjoying the winding down of summer!