Mount Rainier

I took her to Mount Rainier! :-) Yes, it's her, my baby, when she was still a six months old fetus :-).

It's been my dream to climb that mountain. Since I was in high school, when I was seriously a "pencinta alam" :-P. I mean, I can claim that I am not that kind of person who only joined the club to be seen cool; no, I do love hiking! But as I get older it's getting more difficult to spare time to do this.

When I was in high school, I even did serious wall climbing; had practice every Wednesday in Fatmawati and every weekend at school (my hiking club has its own climbing wall). Now I don't do wall climbing anymore but I do other outdoor activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, and rafting. I wish I could do more, but I don't have the luxury to spend time to do those things.

So I have this dream in my mind, that someday I'll climb three summits: Jayawijaya, Mt. Rainier, and of course Mt. Everest. What a dream, you'd say. But having dreams is good for my soul, even though they may only be dreams without realisation, but dreaming I think one of the things that make us humans. I only went to Wamena for a couple of days and only saw the Jayawijaya Mountain from afar (very far! :-)), but that way I keep my dream.

Climbing Mt. Rainier would be a serious activity. It's one of the seven summits of the world. Wikipedia says:

Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is very difficult; it involves climbing on the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska. Most climbers require two to three days to reach the summit. Climbing teams require experience in glacier travel, self-rescue, and wilderness travel. ... About three mountaineering deaths each year occur due to rock and ice fall, avalanche, falls, and hypothermia associated with severe weather. The worst mountaineering accident on Mount Rainier occurred in 1981, when eleven people lost their lives in an ice fall on the Ingraham Glacier. This was the largest number of fatalities on Mount Rainier in a single incident since 32 people were killed in a 1946 plane crash on the South Tahoma Glacier.

So what we did was again "only" to keep my dream alive and to fulfill my craving ;-P

The Journey

And now I can tell friends and family members about my craving. My craving was to take my baby in my belly to Mount Rainier! And I did it!

Although we only took tourist track :-) and only walked few kilometers away from where I started at the Paradise. I had to stop several times as I had a feeling that I should not have too fast heartbeat as my heart is the one that pumps oxygen for my baby. And we (did that with FF, of course) stopped only at Glacier Vista point (6336 feet) instead of going up to Panorama Point at 6800 feet where we would see the snow. At that time I just thought I should stop, especially because we only brought a bottle of water for two of us.

Apparently they were good decisions. Maybe my instinct ;-P. Firstly, my heartbeat should not be more than 140 beats per minute, otherwise the oxygen supply for the baby will be disturbed and it'll be dangerous for her. Secondly, the highest altitude a pregnant woman can climb is 2,000m above the sea level which is about 6400ish feet. Higher than that means less oxygen for breathing, which is bad for the baby as well as for me. I could get preecclampsia. Thirdly, I need to drink tons of water when doing exercise like that, indeed. I could have dehydration, which could end up very badly for my fetus.

We only stopped at that point where we can see the glacier fall and hear how the pieces of glacial rocks fall behind the rocks. Excellent!

The Glacier Fall

After that we continued the journey to other tracks. Yes, there are many tracks around Mt. Rainier. We started from the Paradise, which looks really like a paradise! :-) and then we went to Grove of the Patriarchs Trail where we can see huge trees and crossed a small suspension bridge. We certainly also stopped by at other points: Longmire and Sunrise.

Suspension Bridge

We rented a car; FF drove from our house to the mountain and I drove back home from the Mountain. The ticket is cheap, only $15 for both us and the car; and is valid for 7 days. They also have annual membership fee, but we don't need that, maybe we would though when we live here, as there are soooo many things we can do. From hiking, climbing, fishing, biking, or just having a nice picnic. The view is just amazing.

The facilities are also brilliant. I wish the beautiful mountains in Indonesia have facilities like that. Went to Kerinci, Semeru, Gede, and many others but none compares to the facilities here. One can even bring one's baby because they have nursing facilities and information about which ones are accessible for baby stroller. Many pensioners had tours when we were there, exactly because there are facilities for old people, too. I'll bring my baby here later. Also my dad and brother :-)

Some tracks are closed in October and most of all areas are closed during Winter. So it was a good plan indeed that we did it in mid-September.

map source: http://www.nps.gov/PWR/customcf/apps/maps/showmap.cfm?alphacode=mora&parkname=Mount%20Rainier%20National%20Park

Tacoma or Tahoma

Mount Rainier was first known by the Native Americans as Talol, Tahoma, or Tacoma, from the Lushootseed word [təqʷúʔbəʔ] ("mother of waters") spoken by the Puyallup tribe. Another interpretation is that "Tacoma", effectively means "larger than Koma (Kulshan)" (a name for Mount Baker, north of Seattle)), cf. "Kobah" (Skagit: qwúbəʔ, "white sentinel", i.e. mountain").

At the time of European contact, the river valleys and other areas near the mountain were inhabited by many Pacific Northwest tribes who hunted and gathered berries in its forests and mountain meadows. These included the Nisqually, Cowlitz, Yakama, Puyallup, and Muckleshoot.

Captain George Vancouver reached Puget Sound in 1792 and became the first European to see the mountain. He named it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.

Source: of course, Wikipedia :-).

These tribes and history of Seattle always fascinate me. That's also why I was excited when I had to learn and see the tribal court and tribal governance here as a part of the Afghan Women visit program, in which I was an assistant. This settlement was a home for many native american tribes in the old days. The Washington State was only established in 1851, very young. The name of Seattle itself was taken from the name of the chief of Duwamish Tribe. He was known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth.

Tacoma is now the name of the city nearby, a satellite city of Seattle, it's actually where the international airport is. I'd fly to "Seatac" (short for Seattle Tacoma) whenever I fly in here. Well, the capital city of Washington State itself is NOT Seattle, many people (non-Seattleites) would not know this. It's Olympia.

Anyway, so Mt. Rainier as a natural phenomenon was seen as a God by the native American tribes. I love stories about mountains. Just like I love the story of Princess Anjani of Mount Rinjani and the story of Mount Semeru or Mount Slamet. I can see the God there on the South from my window when the air is clear ("the mountain is out", that's the Seattleites' expression for clean air). But the most important thing is: I took my baby up there! :-)