Rest Day - Packwood, WA

Motel, shower, bed, real food, and great company. That and more is what we were lucky enough to have last night and tonight. Thank you to Rosemary, Linda, and Stef for all that you have done to make the effort to meet up with us. We appreciate it more than words can express.

Today's a rest day. Only our 5th rest day of the trip. Far fewer than most PCTers take. We are not the fastest hikers on trail, but we are steady, and it's best for us to pace ourselves and not get injured.

After a pancake breakfast,  we did our laundry and a resupply. Getting that out of the way early enabled us to all drive to Mt. Rainier National Park. I have never been to this park before, so it was really a treat for me. We were limited in how much we could do in the park because neither Balance nor I wanted to do much walking on our rest day. We did manage to get up close the the glaciers on Mt. Rainier on a picture perfect day. We stopped at several pull outs to get a different perspective of the mountain, which was neat.

It was a very enjoyable rest day and more so with Balance's family.

Mt. Rainier at reflection lake. Left to right: Balance, Y-Knot, Stef, Linda, and Rosemary.

Stef and Linda with Mt. Rainier high above.

You can see why this is called Reflection Lake. Mt. Rainier National Park is an amazing place. I have never been here before so I was excited to tour the park on our rest day with Balance's family. We had a great day.

Hard to beat a wildflower meadow with Mt. Rainier in the background. What a beautiful National Park this is.