I had a rare opportunity to get away for a few carefree hours today and decided to drive from my home in Seattle to Mt. Rainier and back. If you live in the Northwest, this is a drive not to be missed.

I went through Enumclaw and down 410 to the northeast corner of the park. After stopping over at Crystal Mountain (yes, it was as empty as a ski resort should be in September), I hauled up to Sunrise Point and finally stopped at the visitor center (at approx 6100 ft in elevation). Simply a beautiful drive -- lots o' twisties, too.

 

So jealous! Next time I'm out that way, I will definitely have to make that trip!

 

A bit of a drive for us Folks in Vanc., but it sure would be FUN!!

 

Wow! Looked to be a good drive. How did you manage to get up the hills with just a Cooper though?

 

Forgot to include a map of the road I took inside the park. (Attached and shown as a red line.)

Yeah, all those twisties you see on the map? Amazing! There was no real traffic to speak of, so I had some great runs -- up and down <!>.

Probably the best road I've ever driven on that wasn't a closed track.

 

Ha! You know, I thought about what it might've been like to have the power of an S with me today. The only thing I'm certain about is that I would've been in big trouble with the added ponies. Between the speeds of some of the corners and the utter lack of any guard rails, I would've gone sailing for sure. And it was a long, long way down. :P

My little JustaCooper did me juuuust fine today.

 

Darn it I miss living up there. I lived in Gig Harbor and SSSOOOOOOOOOO miss it!!! I could always see Mt. Rainer on my drive to work.

 

Nice! I like hiking @ Tipsoo lake in Mt. Rainier National Park up near Chinook Pass....you passed it on your little trip.

 

Oh, actually, I went up to Chinook Pass, too! What a great climb up to the pass -- the views are astounding. I saw the road switchbacks on the map and just had to check it out -- glad I did, too. Tipsoo lake looked beautiful from above, but I didn't have time to put on my hiking shoes today.

Really gorgeous up there -- can't wait to go back.

Here's a shot of the Cooper headed to Chinook:

 

Gorgeous pics, thanks for sharing! Looks like you had beautiful weather. I've been up Rainier three times, but it wasn't in a car , now I'm looking forward to doing it in my Clubman.

 

A bit of a drive, especially if you had to drive all the way to Seattle and then to the mountain.

 

I read your post and had to go up there. Like you said lot's of twisties. Another week or two the fall colors will look awesome. Went up to Paradise ................ thanks for a great drive destination.

 

awesome! glad you were inspired to head up there -- it's really the right time of year to go. in a few more weeks, many of those roads will surely be covered in quite a bit of snow.