Call this the last gasp of summer. The weekend before Labor Day, timed with a burst of cool air from somewhere, made for a perfect 3-day getaway from Pullman. Getting to the Cascades is always a bit of a slog, but by taking an extra scenic route though the John Day Wilderness, hundreds of miles of mostly deserted mountain 2-lane twisties stretched out in front of me.

Sisters, Oregon is a nice little town to use as a home base for some mountain road touring. Plenty of restaurants and coffee shops in walking distance from an old school motel. A bit off the busy main road in town, which I think has just about reached capacity, at least on weekends. I'm sure the locals have figured out an alternate way around town. The climate in this high desert area is pretty nice. Even in August, the morning temperature was just 37°! It warmed right up by the time I was ready to ride, but the crispiness sure felt nice at the end of a hot, smokey summer.

Usually it is very warm in Eastern Washington in the summer. So recently, when I saw a break in the heat, I decided to use the opportunity to dash across the desert into the Cascades, with a visit to Mount Rainier National Park. I visited the Paradise Lodge area for some hiking on Sunday. The weather was nice, the parking lots were overflowing, and the trails, at least for the first mile or so, were quite crowded.

On Monday, the story was quite different. I was able to be in the park much earlier, so I drove up to Sunrise and was on the trails a little after 8:00am. The weekend traffic is quite thin by comparison, so the parking lot and trails were quite empty. Sunrise is the highest elevation entry point at the park at 6400 feet. Thankfully, that elevation was above the wildfire smoke that blanketed almost the entire state, especially the East side.

The hiking and scenery were awesome and after several hours out on the trail, returning to the Sunrise Lodge area meant that it was late enough in the morning that the lodge was open, so I could grab some coffee before heading out to visit other parts of the White River valley.

Sunrise Ridge, almost back to the lodge.

Central Oregon Loop

Summer Hikes on Rainier