Mt. Rainier - 392 Miles

Yesterday was the coldest ride I've ever been on. We headed out to Mt. Rainier at 8:00a.m. When we stopped at Naches to fill up the gas tanks, I was seriously considering taking my jacket off and riding bare armed but something in the back of my mind said "No, just wait."  Well, it was super foggy and cold when we got to summit. Our plan was to ride to Sunrise Lodge and although everything in our good senses told us to turn around and go home, we forged on. When we arrived at the top of Sunrise, it was cold at 40 degrees. I actually thought it might start snowing.  I have to say it was a first for me ... riding in such frigid weather. But what are ya gonna do?  Call your mama? My fingers were frozen and I was cold to the bone when we parked the bikes. We all packed picnic lunches and by-God we were going to eat them. I was so happy I had a thermos full of steaming, hot coffee.  Our friends paid $3.50 a cup for coffee in the lodge.

 

 Luckily, the wind died down and we saw some blue sky poke through the clouds, which warmed us enough to enjoy lunch together. The thought of getting back on the bikes and riding back down the summit was something I just kept pushing out of my mind.

 

I made a pact with myself that I would not complain if the weather turned out to be 90 degrees driving back into TriCities.  It wasn't 90. I'm not sure it was even 70 today. I think fall is blowing in.

 

Our only view of Mt. Rainier today. :-(

Anyway, it was a super fun day despite getting so cold. We never saw Mt. Rainier except for just a small window of it through thin clouds that cleared for just a minute. There was fresh snow on it and it was at eye level. I was glad to get out of there.

 

Everyone made it home safely and this likely will be our last big ride of the season. If the weather holds, maybe we'll get one more but I'm staying away from anyplace with "Mt." in the name.

 

How did you spend your Sunday? 

 

love, susan