Mt. Rainier National Park (1/5): National Park Inn, Longmire

The National Park Inn in Longmire, in Mt. Rainier National Park

Ahhhh, the dreaded (yet necessary) travel day – heading from Maple Ridge BC to beautiful Mt. Rainier National Park for a night in Longmire at the National Park Inn!

I hit the road around noon with the anticipation of arriving at the park entrance by around 6. And I had quite a few stops to make along the way because grocery shopping in the states is WAY better than in Canada! Except for some bodybuilder-friendly chicken and rice meals and a couple protein pancakes, I brought literally no hiking food with me. The more I could get at various Grocery Outlet stores along the way, the better!

The weather was flawlessly gorgeous as I got closer to Mt. Rainier. I had a surprisingly stunning view of the mountain as I skirted it’s west side down highway 7. As I drove further down the highway and could see the south side of the mountain, I saw a layer of cloud around halfway up. I thought to myself “oh FFS, there goes the Reflection Lake astrophotography shoot I had planned.” But hey, that’s how nature photography works – you work with what you’re given, and it appeared that on this very night, I would not be given a whole lot to work with. Oh well!

The park entrance

I checked into the National Park Inn, and as I expected, that cloud layer was right over top of me. But knowing that the Paradise area is substantially higher, I figured I’d take a quick drive up to see if it was above the clouds. If it was, I could possible still get my shots at Reflection Lake!

Nope, not so much. It was dark by the time I arrived in Paradise, and it was literally IN the clouds. It was a hauntingly beautiful scene – think along the lines of a foggy Halloween night. No epic landscape shots to be had in the clouds, so I drove back down to the National Park Inn in Longmire.

The scene of the Inn itself at dusk underneath the clouds was super impressive, so that would be my photo subject for the night!

After grabbing the shots, I retreated to my room to process the image and treat myself to a delicious IPA.

I wasn’t 100% sure what hike I was going to do the next day. That would be something to figure out over breakfast!