Hiking at Crystal Mountain

Several weeks ago we headed up to Crystal Mountain to ride the gondola up the mountain to eat a picnic lunch and then spent the later part of the afternoon hiking back down. We have never taken the gondola before, but it ended up being a delightful way to spend the day. If you have older children there is a great option to hike up and take the gondola down, but in an effort to keep our children happy and us sane we decided to do the reverse.

It was so beautiful up there with some of the wildflowers still in bloom and Mount Rainier in view for a bit.

It was a fun and interesting journey hiking down with plenty of diversions and even two lakes to stop out for a rest or a snack. We encountered several other hikers on our way down and even a couple of fly fishermen at the second lake.

We are endlessly grateful for our good natured who are generally happy and fun to be around children. Neither of them have minded being in the hiking carrier for long periods of time and I think Daphne is not only delighted by the change of scenery, but being high above her brother’s clutches. Ha!