Day Trip- Mount Rainier National Park *lots Of Pix*

[ArmyofOne]

Yesterday, the wife and I jumped in our '11 Ram 1500 Big
Horn Crew 4x4 and went for a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park. The park itself is about 40 miles away from
my base (Fort Lewis, Tacoma WA), but the drive we took was roughly 400 miles,
we went all the way around the park. We
saw everything from rivers, to waterfalls, to glaciers. It really is one of the most magnificent
National Parks in the country. Top 5 I
would say (and we have literally toured the country several times)...We took
over 350 pictures yesterday, but I won't do that to you. Instead, I uploaded all of them to
photobucket and picked out the best ones.
Being that I just had my hip surgery, she did most of the walking, I did
some, but not any of the trails. She
took both cameras and went on her merry way snapping photos like a boss. Anywhoo, here they are...

The first place we stopped was Carter Falls and the
Nisqually River:

Next we snapped a pic of Mt. Tahoma:

And a few of the Nisqually River, Nisqually Glacier and
Christine Falls:

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[ArmyofOne]

Next, we hit Narada Falls, Paradise Valley and Reflection
Lake. I walked the Narada Falls Trail to
take the pix because it was only 1/10^th of a mile. But it tested my recovery because man was it
steep.

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But worth it:

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Paradise Valley:

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Reflection Lake (Mount Rainier clouded in the
background. On a calm day, with no
clouds, the mountain will perfectly reflect on the lake):

[ArmyofOne]

Next, we hit Narada Falls, Paradise Valley and Reflection
Lake. I walked the Narada Falls Trail to
take the pix because it was only 1/10^th of a mile. But it tested my recovery because man was it
steep.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/armyof12006/DSCF8330_zps17cdcaca.jpg[/img]

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/armyof12006/DSCF8336_zpsfab3bcc2.jpg[/img]

But worth it:

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Paradise Valley:

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Reflection Lake (Mount Rainier clouded in the
background. On a calm day, with no
clouds, the mountain will perfectly reflect on the lake):

[ArmyofOne]

Random Gorgeousness above 5,000 feet :p :

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[ArmyofOne]

White Falls, Box Canyon, and Sunrise (The closest you can
drive a car to the summit of Mt Rainier. 6,944 Feet):

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Sunrise!

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[ArmyofOne]

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All in all, we had a great time and we spent
about 10 hours on the road, but roughly 6 in the park (2 there and 2
back). We went 289 miles and used a
little over a half of a tank of fuel in the ram. Definitely $60 worth of fun and pix. Entrance to the park was free because I get a
free annual pass to all national parks through the Army. If anyone would like Hi-Res pix, I got ‘em,
just shoot me a PM!

[lenore]

Ok great pictures, I am so happy for you two, but I had not heard about your hip surgery, whats up?

[ArmyofOne]

I had my hip replacement surgery on June 20th, and am now awaiting medical retirement (100% disabled veteran). My hip was shattered in an IED strike in 2007, and it just took the stupid army medical system that long to figure out that it needed replaced. SMDH.

Pix of the truck I was in:

^pile o' parts...

*2000lbs of ordnance buried 6 ft down detonanted right there^ then threw the 85,000lb Buffalo RCV sideways cartwheel style 300 feet into a field. It rolled several times. This is all what was told to me by my lieutenant. I dont remember anything until I woke up in the medivac chopper. 6 people in it, me and one other survived. I had a Traumatic Brain Injury, a shattered hip and a broken tibia. The other person had a severe TBI (coma for 3wks) and other minor injuries.

[lenore]

I'm so sorry, I missed that, God Bless you Army, I hope you get better treatment from here on out. Thank you so much for your service.

[13IS250C]

Beautiful pics! I couldn't get all of them to upload, but the ones that did are just breathtaking!!!

I also thank you for your service and am so sorry that you were in such a horrible accident and lost some of your buddies. So sad.