After leaving Seattle (31Jul2023) we headed into Mt. Rainier National Park. Before heading out we stopped in Renton, WA to get some coffee and tea at Boon Boona Coffee. Once in the park, we hiked the Naches Peak Loop Trail which is partially in the Wenatchee National Forest and partially in Mt. Rainier National Park. We got some great views of Mt. Rainier after making it to the highest point on the trail and continued to see these views for most of the decent. We then headed to Ohanapecosh Campground and setup camp for the the night.
Tuesday (01Aug2023) we got up and headed to White River Campground in the Sunrise area of the park. Once we snagged a campsite we decided to do a shorter hike from the campground, Emma’s Moraine Trail.
Wednesday (02Aug2023) we got up early to beat the heat and hike to Summerland Camp via the Wonderland Trail. The hike was forested for the first 2/3rds and then opened up to for views of Mt. Rainier and lots of wildflowers. The real views were just past the camp, which include some beautiful wildflowers and a stream with Mt. Rainier in the background.
Thursday (03Aug2023) we headed to the Longmire/Paradise area of Mt. Rainier National Park. After setting up camp at Cougar Rock Campground we took an evening hiked on the Wonderland Trail (this trail goes around the entire mountain and is 93 miles) to Carter Falls. The falls itself was not very impressive nor was there a good view of it from the trail, however the view at the start of the trail from Nisqually River of the mountain was awesome.
Friday (04Aug2023) we had another early morning, heading up to Paradise to hike the Skyline Loop Trail. This whole trail was amazing and we stop so many times to get pictures of Mt. Rainier but also the Cascade Range. Along the way we also spotted multiple marmots and a black tailed deer. This hike probably ranked up as good as or better than the Maple Pass hike we did in North Cascades. I think Justin still thinks the Maple Pass is his favorite but it's a tie for me; hence the many pictures below. After the hike we relaxed in the van before heading to Lake Adler Campground for the evening.
I'm splitting this post up from Olympic National Park and Forest as we spent about 10 days there and this post would just be too long. Look for that post dropping in a few days.
Comments