Rainier from Chinook Pass

Mount Rainier from Chinook Pass

A final note from our recent trip to Washington State. When we arrived in Washington State in 1942, we learned that there were two mountain passes from Central Washington to the Seattle Tacoma area. Somewhere I have a black and white picture of the family throwing snow balls in the summer at the Rainier National Park Arch entrance at the top of Chinook Pass. We were planning to take Snoqualmie Pass on our recent trip. I remember it as a four lane highway with all the steep ascents smoothed out. Not so with Chinook.

A forgot an important item in Yakima, however, so we determined to retrieve it and drive to Tacoma over Chinook. It's a higher pass, closed during the winter. And there are some thrilling switchbacks visible, which remind me of Colorado. While the Pass travels through Rainier National Park, you can't really see the mountain until you start down the West side. There are some impressive scenes there, however, and it looks like the north side of Rainier has more snow than the south side, which we visited earlier in the year.

Anyway, Chinook Pass is a trip worth taking if you have the chance some summer.

Rainier from Paridise, August 21