D to E: Seattle, WA to Gifford Pinchot National Forest, near Randle, WA

We woke in Seattle to foggy skies and a foggy Mt. Rainier in the distance (we assumed it was foggy, we couldn't see it). We were having a lot of fun hanging out with family, but we knew that we couldn't wait for a sunny day to leave and decided that we would have to come back and see the top of Mt. Rainier another time. After a trip to Trader Joe's and the Post Office we headed south on I-5 and then east on 410 towards Mt. Rainier and Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We saw our first snowy hills driving around the north and east sides of Mt. Rainier - California wasn't the only place that had a late spring.We made it to Randle, WA fifteen minutes before the Gifford Pinchot Ranger Station closed. We bought our Annual Pass and found out that not only were the roads to Mt. Adams and Takhlakh Lake (where we had hoped to camp) closed - the Windy Ridge Road to view Mt. St. Helens was still snowy and wouldn't be open for a few days. We really didn't want to have to drive out to the west entrance to get a view of the lava flow, so we decided that perhaps we could stay an extra night and hope that the roads were opened before we had to leave.The ranger told us about good dispersed campspots along FR79 near the Cispus River. We drove south along 23 and then cut west along 79 to a spot about a mile and a half west from 25. The Cispus River raged with late snowmelt about 100 feet below our camp. We found plenty of firewood to make a small fire and ate leftover Ethiopian food from the night before. Max read A Brave New World and Emily read Bright's Passage. Buzz had a good walk and slept soundly in the van.

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