Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington

July 13, 2023

Continuing with part 2!

On Friday, we took it easy and walked a short trail (1.6 miles) along Goat Creek near our campground. This was an interested little trail, as there were several little cabins right along the beginning of the trail.

There were several rustic bridges

One of the cute cabins

Part of the forest had burned a while back

Sunday was supposed to be a beautiful day according to the weather reports that we had followed, so we got up early to go hike the Naches Peak Loop trail (4 miles). It turned out to be mostly cloudy that day with a few sprinkles even, but the scenery was gorgeous just the same.

We ran into some serious fog on the way up the mountain

It made for some interesting pictures, though

Soon the fog passed on, and we could see the views

Rick: Couldn't resist noticing Julie focused on the flowers while Mt. Rainier towers in the background!

Julie: I was taking a picture of Mt. Rainier, silly!

Mt. Rainier was a little shy today and hid behind the clouds much of the time

Right about at this spot on the trail, a truly unfortunate accident occurred...

Julie was "really bummed" to have to get a new phone 😉.

On Monday, we walked along the White River behind our campsite for a mile or so (2 miles total).

Goat Creek mixing with the White River

Not too cool for a hiking stick, apparently 😉

We came across the grave of a local who had died right here in the woods (over 100 years ago)

Found this cool leaf imprint on a log

On our last day, while walking the campground loops, we happened upon a trail that followed the White River in the opposite direction as we had gone previously. We happened upon two small odd-looking buildings that looked like they came straight out of Lost. 

Rick couldn't resist a peak inside

Looks like a storage shed for explosives...interesting

As mentioned earlier, we were quite solar-challenged at this campsite, as we were surrounded by really tall trees. We adjusted by using propane for everything we could (hot water, cooking, heating) and cutting back on using lights willy-nilly at night. Each day we watched as we lost an average of about 6% of battery reserve per day. Not really that bad actually. We figure it is inevitable that someday we will need to dig out the generator from the bowls of the truck bed, but today was not yet that day. We'll see how much battery we can charge on our way to the next destination.

Even though Julie was (mostly) certain we would be able to get out of the campsite, on the actual day of reckoning, she became a little less confident as a tree almost took out the awning support (or the awning the tree, whichever would have won the contest) when we were pulling out. Fortunately, Rick was able to back up and try again. We made it, but with inches to spare. Fortunately, no trees or trailers were harmed in the process. Whew!

Rick's Tech Notes:

For those interested in the details of our power situation and some guestimates:

Average solar gain appeared to be around 1.1 KWh per day

We lost approximately 6% battery a day (more accurately 576 Wh per day)

This leads to the conclusion that we were using 1.7KWh per day in electricity

Estimates for battery drain to 20% (how many days before needing the generator):

Low solar (1.1Kwh) 7.68/.6= 12.8 days at shaded site

Super low solar (40 watts x 10 hours = 400Wh or .4KWh) 7.68/1.3=5.9077 or about 6 days in a really shaded site

For reference - a really good solar day can generate around 7.2 KWh

Electrical usage for the week (not including driving on the 12th) Consumption (pink) is our AC usage (microwave, dishwasher, toaster, coffee maker) Blue line gives upper and lower bound of battery for the day (see right side for %)

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