We convinced Subaru to loan us a Crosstrek to fuel some adventure at Leatherman. Handing the keys to some of our employees, we’re sharing why we love calling the Pacific Northwest home. What’s up for our next story? Mount Rainier.

There are five different areas of Mount Rainier National Park to start exploring: Longmire, Paradise, Ohanapecosh, Sunrise, and Carbon/Mowich. They each range from simple campgrounds and picnic areas to expensive hotel resorts and other Mt. Rainer lodging. For our quick day trip from Portland, we were after a simple picnic area and some of the best views of the mountain.

This brought us to Sunrise, the highest point of Mount Rainier National Park that can be reached by vehicle. Sunrise Road is only open from June to October, depending on road conditions. We ended up going the first weekend the road just opened up for the year.

Right before we reached the very top, we stopped by an area called Sunrise Point to take in the beautiful sweeping views of the mountains. When we stepped outside the car, you could feel the chilly air and know we’ve definitely just driven up 6,400 feet of elevation. The view and the crisp air from Sunrise, Mount Rainer was absolutely beautiful.

Once at the top, we parked by the Sunrise Visitor Center and found a picnic table to eat our packed lunch.

Afterwards, we were ready to explore some of the Mt. Rainer hikes. We started up Sunrise Nature Trail where we didn’t have to hike very far to see some amazing views already. We felt the breadth of the mountain and although we took a lot of photos, they didn’t do any justice to actually seeing it in person.

As we hiked through the Mt. Rainier trails, we’d stop sometimes to just stare at the mountain’s peak and see the clouds move along the top of it. During the drive back home, we were already talking about which areas of the Mount Rainer National Park we should explore next.