SNOWFALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
When we woke up in Seattle ready for another day of exploring we had no idea that in a few hours we would be surrounded by the most beautiful landscape we had ever seen. White, fluffy snow fell around us, as we jumped around like little kids. We spent the day surrounded by Christmas's trees and wooden huts, it felt like we had left Seattle and gone to the North Pole. This magical place we are speaking of is Mount Rainier.
Mount Rainier is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range, the highest mountain in the state of Washington and is a gigantic active stratovolcano! We knew Mt. Rainier would be our destination for the day, yet the only time we had seen or learnt about it was when we saw it from an incredible view from Kerry Park in Seattle.
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Customized Tours picked us up at an early 7.30am and we headed south from Seattle towards the mountain. A few hours later, and a much higher elevation, we entered Nisqually Park and continued up the scenic winding road. We both started to noticed little piles of snow on either side of the road, and began to get a tad excited. The last (and first) time we saw snow was years ago when we travelled through New Zealand. Gazing out the window, I began to see little white flakes falling from the sky - it was snowing! We had both never seen snowfall before, saying we were excited was an understand. Our tour guide stopped the bus and we ran outside to this ...
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SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
As I mentioned, we did not expect to be going to the snow on this tour and therefore we were not dressed for the occasion. Luckily our amazing guide had some extra snow jackets and boots for us to borrow - he was a life saver!!
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We climbed back into the bus ready to see more. We arrived at our highest stop with an elevation of 5,400 feet. We grabbed our lunch and headed into the Paradise Jackson Visitors Center to warm up and fill our bellies ready to explore more of the mountain. Our guide took our group for a little walk to see more spectacular views and scenery.
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
It started to snow quite heavily and we ran back to the bus to defrost. We headed back down the mountain and stopped off to see magnificent waterfalls and more breathtaking views.
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
SNOW FALL AT MOUNT RAINIER
If you ever find yourself in Seattle and only have time to do one thing, go and visit Mount Rainier! If you still need more convincing check out our video we filmed of our experience.
https://youtu.be/6rEoftPbykM
We visited Mount Rainier with Customized Tours, priced at $102.28pp for a 10 hour tour.
When was the first time you saw snowfall?
Many thanks to Customized Tours for hosting us for the day. As always, all opinions are our own.
READ NEXT: HIKING THROUGH YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
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