Flying the Cascades and Mt. Rainier

[FastDoc]

Monte and I took the Maule out to the mountains for fun, fellowship, and fund depletion (gas is expensive...) yesterday after church.

We flew over Yakima into the Cascades and landed at Rimrock Lake by White Pass at 4,500 feet. You may recognize the name because we have ridden our dirt bikes there several times. Beautiful place, hairly approach though. We met anotherpilot there camping with his family.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/maule/maule028/bars004_zps142cc68a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/maule/media/maule028/bars004_zps142cc68a.jpg.html)

Doc at the lake. Too cold to swim in but the shallow areas are nice.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/maule/maule028/bars002_zpse7016308.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/maule/media/maule028/bars002_zpse7016308.jpg.html)

Monte with the Maule on the grass landing strip.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/maule/maule028/bars007_zps1795db66.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/maule/media/maule028/bars007_zps1795db66.jpg.html)

After Rimrock we flew to Packwood, a little deeper into the mountains. Very close to Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. Unfortunatly, I was too busy getting through the mountains to take pics of the mountains. Here is the plane on the grass at Packwood.

[FastDoc]

BTW next time you all hear me bitching about missing California, remind me of times like this. ;-)

[Weldangrind]

You bet I will! You live in an amazing place.

Seriously, thanks for the pics; it looks like it was a great day.

[SpudRider]

We also still have snow at the higher elevations.

Why would you want to leave the Pacific Northwest for California? :shrug:

;)

[FastDoc]

I think I'm staying put, at least until I retire.

I hate winter, that's the thing.

BTW Spud, speaking of Mt. Rainier, the mountain claimed another group of climbers last week. All they found was an ELT beacon signal a few thousand feet below where they were hiking. All presumed dead and no search can be safely conducted.

[SpudRider]

Make no mistake about it, Mount Rainier is a nasty, dangerous mountain. It kills climbers every year, and it almost killed me. :wtf:

Reading a report from the Seattle Times, it appears the climbers might have camped overnight in an avalanche chute. If so, that was not a wise decision. :ohno:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/05/six-climbers-missing-on-mount-rainier/