Spray Park
There are plenty of alpine meadows around here, but my favourite is Spray Park on the western flank of Mt Rainier. At 7000 ft, summer was slow to arrive this year, but things were just about perfect in late July (except for a parking lot so full you have to park half a mile away and walk up to the trailhead).
It really is nice up there.
Also, there are bonus attractions for those who like waterfalls.
Yosemite
I found Yosemite to be a little too packaged and formulated, crowded and hazy for my taste. It didn't help that it was the 4th of July weekend.
Tioga Road had just opened, though, and the high country was a nice change from the enumerated viewpoints of the valley.
In spite of the haze, the distant views of the high Sierra were nice. A few more pictures over at Flickr, including a bear we met hiking down to Nevada Falls from Glacier Point.
Rampart Lakes
Resumed hiking after one wasted summer weekend, and went to Rampart Ridge in the Cascades this past weekend. There is a nice alpine lake called Rachel Lake, and if you go up the cirque, several small tarns and streams.
There are some very pretty views of Rachel Lake itself from the trail as you go up.
The tarns on the ridge are very nice.
My Flickr stream has more pictures.
