#tolmie peak

Looking for a change, just haven't figured out what ⛰️ !.

When you think of the great historic adventures, you naturally think of botany.

*crickets chirp*

No, just me?

Imagine its the year 1833. Dr. William Tolmie leads a “botanizing expedition” from the Hudson Bay Co’s Fort Nisqually (near present day DuPont, Wa.). The whole purpose of the expedition was to study and collect plants. Nearing Mount Rainier, William scales hills and rocks, going higher and higher until he sees the most wonderful sight you can imagine; a saxifrage.

Not just any saxifrage, but one that would come to bear his name, Micranthes tolmiei. Oh, and he saw a mountain, Mount Rainier. And he may have climbed a steep little peak that now bears his name; Tolmie Peak. In his journal, Tolmie wrote, “the snow on the summit of the mountain adjoining Rainier on the western side of Poyallip is continuous with that of the latter, and thus the S. Western aspect of Rainier seemed the most accessible. . . . By ascending the first mountain through a gully in its northern side, you reach the eternal snow of Rainier”

Fortunately, for the ease of future lookout staffers and hikers, a trail was built up Tolmie Peak. A fire lookout has watched over this amazing view and wonderful plants since 1993 when it was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Many people have hiked here to share in the view. Do you have a favorite memory of Tolmie Peak? The fire lookout? or Tolmie’s Saxifrage?