Randle WA - 2019

Well after a nice drive through Yakima and the mountains, we finally made it to the Cascade Peaks Campground outside of Randle Wa.  We are going to hang here from 19-30 Aug 2019.   So what did we do here for two weeks?  Well, we relaxed, drove around and hiked.  We checked out Mt Rainier, and saw a stupid person and a bear at the same time.  We also checked out Mt St. Helens.  Without further adieu, let's get into this.

The campground we were staying at was about in the middle between Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens and our first trip was to Mt Rainier.  It had a couple different ways to see it and I think we took most if not all of them.  Some of the side roads in the area was kinda rough and not very well maintained, but manageable.  At one point, we made it to the top of the Mountain and while in the visitor center, I saw a guy in a wheelchair asking about the different paths.  We met back up with him on the trail up to Myrtle Falls.  The trail was kinda steep but paved.  When I talked to him, he said going down was harder than going up.  I guess he wanted to keep it slow so he doesn't fly off the edge. 

Black bear with Stupid person

When we arrived at the falls, there was a black bear that was on the right side of the trail, trying to get to the left side.  I guess he was hungry.  But there always has to be a stupid person trying to keep him from crossing.  The bear showed his disapproval by a good ole growl and swipe of the paw.  That person was lucky the ranger that was up there, didn't see her.  Anyway, there was plenty of trails and waterfalls.  I think we took a few of them.  One trail we took was a loop around to a waterfall and a lot of people were turning around going back the way they came, where we did the hole loop.  But I can see why, the first half we took was very steep and traction was questionable, where the second half was not as steep and plenty of traction.  I guess they have done that trail before.

What else was nice was seeing some of the old growth trees.  They aren't as big as the redwoods and those other trees in California, but they are way bigger than in Colorado.  We also had to cross a suspension bridge.  It wasn't very high, but was still rocky.  Terry loved to cross that. 

Glacier/Glacier cave

We even took a trail to a glacier, but we must of got on the wrong trail because we were above it on a trail that became less stable.  Terry made the decision to turn around on that,  but we did get pictures of it.  In fact, here is all the pictures of Mt. Rainier.

Mt St Helens

Our next adventure was to Mt. St. Helens, It was a little farther than Mt Rainier, mainly because there was no road directly to there.  We had to basically go to I-5, down a couple of miles, and then back to St. Helens.  Or take this road from the "Good Place" which took just as long.  We know this because we took both ways...mainly because you had to do it to see both sides of the mountain.

Mt St Helens, Smokin'

While we were there (the I-5 way) we got to see a nice big elk and some cows about a mile or two away and watched as the mountain was steaming mad...or just steaming.   On another day, we headed back to Mt St Helens but to the other side of the mountain. 

Lava tube

But like I said, that road, if that is what you want to call it took us just as long even though it was way shorter of a drive.  On this side (East side), there was more interesting things to see, like lava tubes, holes in the ground where trees used to be and potholes.  We first headed to the lava tubes.  Before we left, we looked for Terry's head lamp, but couldn't find it anywhere so she used mine.  I was stuck with my phone.  That worked good enough not so not to hurt myself while in the tube.  It was a self guided tour with a little visitor center at the beginning.  There was two way to go in the tube, but we picked the shorter way because of the terrain and only having one good light.  The way we went was a dead end and the other way came out in another location. 

After wandering around the tube, we headed to another location where lava fields engulfed the forest and in it's wake was these holes where the trees used to be.  one of the holes has a tunnel going from one hole to another and you are welcome to climb through it.  I don't think I could have fit, so I didn't try.  Some kids did though.  That was about it here at Mt St Helens and here is the pictures we took.

While staying at the campground, we made several trips to town and everytime we drove past this one field, there was a horse just standing in the middle of the field.  he was always there, just standing.  So lets talk a little about the campground.  This was an older campground that was large, but most of the spots just had water/electric.  Those sites varied from very small to very large and most was very uneven.  We stayed in the full hookup section which was at least level.  The campground backed up to a small river and had black berry bushes everywhere.  Terry enjoyed that with a handful of blackberries on our walks.  What I didn't like was all the spider webs, especially the ones that go right across my face. 
Well that's about it for this location, our next stop is Cosmopolis WA so we can put our RV to sleep while we go on a Alaska Cruise.