This morning it was about 12 degrees in the campsite so a quick cold breakfast, restack Clancy then we decided to get to Paradise early before the crowds. The drive up the hill saw a rapidly dropping temperature till we got to the carpark and it was three (3) degrees! Now Paradise is aptly named even if there is 20ft of snow leading onto the paths and the temperature is very cold. The view of the mountain and surrounds was quite spectacular. The lodge that is at the top of the village could have you thinking you were in Switzerland or Austria, although the carpark and the Visitor centre were more American.

Given the temperature, depth of snow and the breakfast (also visitor centres do not open till 10:00am) we entered the Paradise Inn and made our way to the café for a hot coffee. The inside of the Inn is amazing it was built in a year in the 1930's although the building was completely rebuilt a few years ago to realign it and make it earthquake safe.

Interesting Aside: Mt Rainier is an active volcano, there are regular earthquakes and the Cascade Range has about 13 volcanoes ready to remind people of the power inside the earth.

We sat and listened to a Ranger talk on the mountain and the Inn, the descriptions on the changes in behaviour towards the wildlife over the years was informative, the legacy of our engagement with the wildlife a little disturbing. It appears that the foxes on the mountain have become quite adept at distinguishing between Rangers and Tourists. Some have developed limps to get food, only to lose them once fed. The ranger was extremely helpful in pointing out the walks that were achievable and those that you needed an icepick and crampons to complete.

We went through the visitors centre, which had excellent displays and other information. We then said our goodbyes to the 3m of snow that was on the mountain in July and headed for Clancy to make our way down the to some more accessible walks. I met this couple at the car next to us putting their snowboards on their backs. They were going to spend five hours climbing up the hill, to board down in about 20 minutes!

We started down the hill and found a pull out with a great view and stopped for lunch. While sitting down to lunch, Mt Rainier pocked out of the clouds for a couple of photos before again disappearing from view. Lunch finished we headed down to Longmire to try the walk suggested by the ranger.

The walk was a climb up about 800ft up the side of a hill that walked you about 1.7miles to get the elevation, there was then a walk along a ridge and then a descent along a creek back to Longmire all in all about a 5miles walk. The walk was tiring so we grabbed a coffee from the Longmire restaurant and headed off to Mount St Helens for the next part of the journey.

The trip from Rainier to Mt St Helens was an interesting drive through the back highways of Washington State. The towns were mainly lumber related although there did not seem to be a lot of activity happening. On the way to the I5 we stopped off at a view point of Mt St Helens and it gave a bit of perspective of what we were in for as we were a long way from the 24 miles away at the Hopkins Hill Viewpoint

We made it to the Castle Rock exit on our way to Mt St Helens still no firm plans as to where to stay, not much fuel in Clancy and not many $US in the wallet. So after giving Clancy a big drink we went looking for a whole in the wall. We found what has to be one of the greatest things in Nth America the drive through auto-teller. I just love that its not just burgers and coffee that you get at drive thru's you can even get money.

We then went and sat outside Burger King making excellent use of their free Wi-Fi. We selected our first real American RV Park, no not Walmart. It offered showers and internet two of my favourite things. We drive up to the park and find that the office is closed so pick a site and pay in the morning, if you leave early drop the money in an envelope.

So we drove round and picked a site. Being a little uncomfortable with all this went to the onsite office and asked the lady that answered what the deal was and she said the site we picked was fine, so we had showers and then went off to sleep for the night. Or so we thought.

This evening represented one of those nights where you really have to wonder about people.

Sometime later there is a knocking on the window and there is someone saying that they had booked this site and were demanding that we move. Now on the side of the hill on which we were parked there were eight other vacant sites. Now after trying to explain this to the person through locked doors, I moved the car to one of these sites and went back to sleep for the night.

Animals Spotted: Deer, Chipmunks, Squirrels, birds and insects.

Day six no bears