Above Longmire at Mt. Rainier, there is a nice little hike from Narada Falls up to Reflection Lake and back down on the Lakes Trail. August is usually prime wildflower season. If it’s waterfalls you’re looking for, this is a great trail!
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The Naches Loop off of Hwy 410 at Chinook Pass has to be my absolutely favorite fall hike for colors. It’s an easy 3-mile loop around Naches Peak, great for beginners, or for rehabbing knees after surgery. In October it lights up like a Christmas tree with fall colors. This is one of my yearly pilgrimages… Too bad the road is closed for winter, or I’d be up there snowshoeing too.
I went through Ape Cave on the south side of Mt. St. Helens when I was a teenager and loved it… then I got to take my kids and DH through it too 🙂 It’s a 2-mile long lava tunnel, pitch dark, full of huge boulders to be scrambled over, and definitely not for the claustrophobic! I need to do this again… when I took K&T through it was recently after a knee surgery and I didn’t have all of my leg strength back, which does come in handy when scrambling over boulders the size of cars.
Babysitting my four-legged niece and nephew in Oregon has perks, namely hiking through some gorgeous scenery. I dropped Tori off at Timberline Lodge with $20 and her current book at the time, I think Homer’s Odyssey, and I headed out the Timberline Trail (part of the PCT) for a nice day hike.
It was pretty dusty compared to what I’m used to around here, but still a gorgeous trail. I have to say, after spending so much time around Rainier, Mt. Hood looks pretty tiny, though I know it’s not. Some day I’d love to hike the entire Timberline Trail… maybe next year.
Frani and I set out from Paradise to Mazama Ridge on a day that was supposed to be decent weather, but since our Mountain can make her own weather, she can do whatever she pleases whenever she wants. We still had a great time, and got to see an absolutely spectacular mountain shadow sunrise that morning on the drive there. We turned around early because of weather, so this is one area that I definitely want to explore more when I get the chance.
Wet wet wet wet…. Ipsut Campground is in the Carbon River rainforest area of Mt. Rainier NP. Sharon and Steve and Chris braved some pretty nasty spring PNW weather to go out here with me and camp overnight. I don’t think we had so much as 5 minutes of non-rain time, but we survived 🙂
This used to be a car campground, but now it’s a 5-mile walk down the old gravel road to get to Ipsut Campground since the river has washed the road out too many times to keep repairing. It’s easy to hook up with the Wonderland Trail from here, or to hike out and get up close and personal with the Carbon Glacier.
A nice and easy lower-elevation hike out of Greenwater, WA, to two lakes, along a gorgeous river with some very well-built bridges. The best part of this hike is the native hardy terrestrial Calypso orchids when they’re in bloom. They look like they belong in a tropical rainforest, not the PNW.
Another great hike and/or backpack trip in Mt. Rainier National Park, I like to hit Glacier Basin as soon as the road to White River opens. Still lots of snow in the beginning of the season, so bring along some tire chains for your boots or snow shoes.
Last year I had my one and only bear encounter on this trail, with a younger beautiful cinnamon-colored black bear. He was just not interested in moving off the trail to let us by, so we waited around and got some good photos before he decided to munch his way further into the shrubs.
This is also the main route for climbers heading to Camp Schurman. The Glacier Basin trail has been completely re-done by WTA in the last couple of years, and it shows… it’s a beautiful trail all the way up.
Eunice Lake is one of my favorite lunch spots on the planet (besides Skyscraper Pass). From the road up to Mowich Lake you can see the cliffs, but would never dream that there’s a big, gorgeous lake up there waiting for a picnic. At the right time of year, you can be sure to donate several pints of blood to the local ‘skeeters, but other than that, it’s a beautiful little dayhike to a magical spot…
This is a MUST hike in springtime, around Mother’s Day, when thousands of balsamroot and other plants are in bloom. Great views of the river are a bonus too. It’ll make you sweat, almost 3000 feet of gain to the top. Worth every step for the views and the wildflowers.
