Mt. Rainier's Skyline Trail (highlight of day two)

Last year I spent a little time in Rocky Mountain National Park. There I saw beauty beyond belief. The kind of beauty that you can't entirely absorb or understand. The kind of beauty that you hope, if you stare long enough, will seep into your conscious so that you can carry a piece of it home with you.

I left for Mt. Rainier with the attitude that, yes, there'll be some stunning views, but, yes, how could it possibly be more beautiful than what I've already seen.

How naive!
Rainier's beauty was all together a different kind of beauty than anything I had ever seen EVER.
Instead of wandering through forests like RMNP, we winded through prairies of wild flowers, climbed over rock outcroppings, and ascended steeply to avoid glaciers.

We could even spot Mt. St. Helens smoking imposingly in the distance.

The next time I return (and I will return), I'd like to repeat the Skyline Trail and hike some of the trail spurs that we didn't have the energy to explore this time around. Mt. Rainier National Park reminded me of the endless glory of this planet. So much to see and each piece of it as unique as the next.