Day 319: With the second of two Volunteer Appreciation picnics being held at Sunrise on the east side of Mount Rainier National Park, I had an excuse to visit one of my favorite places in the line of duty. With a radio slung on my belt, I set out from the parking lot at noon and, typical of a busy Saturday, had not gone a hundred yards before I was stopped by the first visitor with a question. I don't often have the opportunity for visitor contacts, although it's something I greatly enjoy, particularly when the inquiries touch on my fields of interest. In this instance, I was asked to identify a wildflower. Oh! Those are the questions I like best! A little further on, another visitor pulled me aside to ask why the snow was oddly colored, opening the door for me to explain about red algae. I heard that same question at least five more times during my hike.
With frequent stops, I finally got to Lodi Creek two hours later after having heard reports of bear and goat sightings near Frozen Lake and below Skyscraper Pass. I saw neither. At Lodi, I was again engaged in conversation with several groups of visitors, almost all of whom were foreigners or from out of state, some visiting Mount Rainier National Park for the first time. It is always a thrill for me to be part of someone's introduction to the Park.
My free time was half-exhausted by then, so I started back up the hill, chatting with more visitors on the way. I stopped to admire a four-point buck (eight-point to you east-coasters!) and to photograph a Townsend's Chipmunk kindly pointed out to me by an elusive flock of some kind of warbler which disappeared into the brush before I could spot where one had landed. Then I returned to Sunrise where my colleagues were gathering for the picnic and spent the remainder of the afternoon in their delightful company.
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