The people you meet on the trails!

This last summer I was able to visit a few of our National parks in between my house sitting jobs. I had the pleasure of seeing Olympic national park, Glacier national park, and Mt. Rainier national park.  One thing about national parks is they are quite crowded!! Campgrounds hard to get into , trails crowded. The most crowded of these 3 was Glacier National park. I had to get in line at 4:30 a.m to get a campsite and I was 3rd in line at that time. Trails were bustling with people. I thought that would really bother me in the beginning , however these places are so beautiful that it just got to be something I got used to 

Really what this post is about is the interesting people you see and meet on the trails. 

For some reason, in Olympic national park we saw lots of people from India and the lady’s would be dressed in their beautiful sari’s and out hiking the trails ! I wish I had gotten a photo of some of them . I just love the colorful clothing .

In Glacier and Mt. Ranier I saw more Japanese and Chinese. These folks have endurance and the children don’t seem to complain at all while hiking a 10 mile hike . I mean tiny tots of 5 years old just plugging along with Mom and Dad , Grandpa and Grandma. No whining , no fussing. Climbing up big inclines , on 8-10 mile hikes. Some of them hiking all the while in those little slip on tennis shoes that barely have a sole. Some people I saw in flip flop doing long trails. Some with just a tiny bottle of water in their hands.  Then come the American hikers in the decked out hiking gear. All the latest in hiking clothing, the best of boots, the full packs , the camelbacks, etc. 

Of course you also get the totally overweight and out of shape but yet determined folks and the elderly doing what are quite strenuous hikes. One couple I talked to in their mid 80’s going up the Wonderland trail at Mt. Rainier. That one had me huffing and puffing. 

I saw lady’s in heals (altho only on the lower parts of the trails), a woman a couple miles up the trail carrying a cup of coffee and no water. 

I am not trying to say that one group or the other is doing it the right way. Just an observation I made of all the different types at the national parks . Many of them most likely checking one more place off their bucket list , just like myself. 

 Then you also get the guys swimming in the glaciers at Glacier national park. This was not an easy thing to get this photo op. This guy  had to get out there aways in the ice water and then climb up onto a chunk of ice to get this photo ! And then scramble out quickly before having coronary arrest !