Wanderers in Wonder

Tahoma, snow covered mountain to the Native Americans, tallest peak in the Cascade Range, is an active volcano. Tahoma, unlike its sisters Luwalaclough and Amblu-Kai, has not erupted in more than a century. It is the tallest volcano in the lower forty-eight. The Cascade Range stretches south from British Columbia through Washington and Oregon and ends in Northern, CA

Tahoma is more often than not shrouded in clouds. We were lucky to get a mostly cloud free view early on. Tahoma towers over the surrounding terrain making a landmark visible for a hundred and fifty miles, before our industrial days.

The trail up from Paradise Valley became a bit challenging. The backpackers we met on the trail who were coming down after a night at the summit all had the same comment, “freezing, wildly windy, no view”. We trekked on a ways.

The Nisqually glacier is one of twenty-five in the park. Sadly, since 1982 Tahoma has lost 82 of its glaciers. The Nisqually Glacier has retreated 1500 feet since 1988. Five important Northwestern rivers have their headwaters on Tahoma.

In 1792 the British explorer, George Vancouver, renamed Tahoma, Rainier, for the British Admiral Peter Rainier. There is a movement underway by some Native American groups to change the name back to Tahoma. Works for us. Mount Rainier became the nation’s fifth National Park in 1899. Thank you, again, John Muir and the fledgeling Sierra Club.

Want to spend a unique night…how about taking up residence for the evening in a caboose.

Peace…Wanderers in Wonder.