As a 14,410 ft volcano, Mt Rainer captures the weather as well as our imagination. The local tribes call it Tahoma, which means “big mountain where the waters begin”. The Cascade Range captures much of the precipitation which is why the west half of WA is so wet & the east half is a desert.

Fortunately it was clear last time we were in the area, because this time the mountains were covered by clouds and it rained almost the whole time.

We started at the Paradise visitors center up in the clouds.

The next day the rain cleared off enough for a few hikes before we finished up our badges.