Category: Day Hikes (Page 7 of 12)

I spent a wonderful day going on a solo hike out at Mt. St. Helens. Started at the Hummocks TH since the road is still closed up to JRO until next month. I hiked through the Hummocks area to Boundary Trail 1 and then up the ridge to Loowit Lookout. Gorgeous day!  I could see JRO, but my view was so perfect at Loowit that I didn’t feel the need to go another 3/4 mile.  Sunshine, quiet solitude, a picnic lunch looking out over a gorgeous volcano – THIS is why I love to solo hike.  I always feel so recharged after a day like today 🙂

I’ve never been up to Mowich Lake in the NW corner of Mt. Rainier Park in wintertime. It’s only been summertime hiking for the amazing wildflowers and views from Tolmie, along with blood-sucking mosquitoes and far too many people crowding the trails. With the light snowpack this year, I finally decided it was time 🙂

The gate is still closed at Paul Peak trailhead. I biked about a mile up the road and then locked up my bike. After 2.5 road miles, the Grindstone Trail cuts off the last two huge road switchbacks and is a great way to get up to Mowich Lake. It’s an “unmaintained” trail but still in pretty decent condition, considering the time of year. Quite a bit of mud, but nothing that a good pair of hiking boots can’t handle.

The Grindstone Trail comes out on the road about 1/4 mile before the Mowich Lake parking lot, short-cutting 1.5 road miles. On the day I went, I had the entire place to myself and it was heavenly!!  A lot of sunshine, a picnic lunch at the edge of the frozen lake, silence that was almost deafening, huge views, and not a single other person. Solo days like this do wonders to recharge my batteries and I always head home feeling so calm and peaceful afterward 🙂

I haven’t been on a bike in at least a century, but last weekend was so nice that S & S and I decided to break out the bikes and head up the Carbon River Road on the NW corner of Mt. Rainier National Park. The road is in good condition for bikes, considering how may times it’s been washed out.  It’s a gorgeous 3.5 miles through old growth rainforest to the Ranger Falls/Green Lake trailhead, where we locked up the bikes and headed out on foot. Ranger Falls was much fuller than last year, since it had recently rained. After photos, we headed further up to Green Lake where we spent an hour sitting on logs in the sun, drinking coffee and tea and having a picnic at the lake, and skipping stones on the frozen lake (rather unsuccessfully).

Back down to the bikes, and since the road has a slight grade to it, the ride from the trailhead back the car was a wonderful glide back through the rainforest.  If you like huge trees, moss, draping ferns, and river views, this is a must trail!

We spent a wonderful week at South Lake Tahoe the first week of February. Unfortunately, the snow levels are dismal and our snowshoes never made it out of the car. But, we did get to do two wonderful hikes that were virtually deserted so we had the trail to ourselves.

We first went to Emerald Bay and hiked out past Eagle Falls to Eagle Lake. We have a lovely picnic lunch on the shore while soaking up the sun and making some much-needed vitamin D. The lake was completely frozen over, and it was beautiful to have the whole area to ourselves.

The next day we headed out to Echo Lakes and hiked several miles of the PCT along the shoreline. I had flashbacks of Yosemite with the huge pines and junipers, and granite everywhere. Again, the lakes were frozen over and beautiful, and we didn’t see another person the whole time we were out there. At one point we were serenaded by a coyote and then watched it run across frozen Upper Echo Lake, wish I knew what it was talking about.

For a final fun side trip, we took the Heavenly Gondola up to the observation deck and the Heavenly ski area. What a fun ride (and expensive, but worth it)!!!  Many of the ski runs were closed due to lack of snow, but there were still a lot of people up top skiing on man-made snow. Again, we spent time walking around in the sunshine soaking it all in.

I’d like to go back sometime, it would sure be fun to rent a cabin on Echo Lake and take our kayaks. I think a week of summertime out here would be wonderful!

Each time I hiked in October, I kept thinking that would be the last good hiking day of the season. And every time, I was wrong. On Oct, 19th Sharon, Steve, Fran, and I headed to Mowich Lake to hike up to Spray Park. I’d only been to the lower part of Spray Park before to see the wildflowers, and was driven out by ravenous, blood-sucking, thirsty, evil, vampire mosquitoes who seem to love me more than any other human on the planet.  This time, there were no mosquitoes (and no wildflowers), but the weather could not have been more perfect for a late fall hike on my gorgeous Mountain with good, good friends.

The expansive views at the upper areas of Spray Park are incredible, and I loved seeing the Mountain from a new angle that I’d never seen before. We also had a wonderful view of Cataract Valley and down into the Carbon River Valley, Mother Mountain, the whole north Cascades, and Mt. Stuart.

Of course, I had to support my favorite team while up there, so I hiked in my Seattle Sounders FC shirt and scarf, and it was Scarves UP! at the top of Spray Park for all of us 🙂

Some day, when I’m brave enough to fight the mosquitoes, I’ll make it up here again during wildflower season, which I imagine will be spectacular.

My annual pilgrimage to Sunrise, Mt. Rainier, at sunrise to see the sky and mountain light up. I hate getting up at 4 a.m., but this is so very worth it!  J and E and I were on the road before 5 a.m., and after hiking a little bit out of the parking lot we settled in to watch the dawn. My advice… JUST GO DO IT!!!  The road to Sunrise usually closes mid-October for winter, so this is my way of saying goodbye to this section of Rainier every year.

After watching a gorgeous sunrise, we hiked out to the Fremont Lookout Tower and had a relaxing picnic lunch with wonderful 360-degree views. Beautiful day with good friends, in a most spectacular area of Mt. Rainier.  GO!

Another wonderful hike along the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point at Rainier. Coming out of the parking lot I said I’d like to see marmots, and we definitely got marmots! They were posing and flirting with us… great way to try out my new camera. Even though the wildflowers were spent at the end of September (and it’s the BEST wildflower hike I’ve ever been on), it was still an excellent hike, amazing views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.  And marmots… a lot of marmots!

Best day ever at Skyscraper Pass, out of Sunrise. J. and I headed out early and spent the day with 32 mountain goats who were all about showing off and posing for us for a couple of hours. We were fortunate that they were much more interested in sunning on rocks and eating than 2 hikers with cameras. They were amazing, and looked very healthy with a lot of new kids. Rangers told us the goat herds are getting larger and stronger every year, and it shows. It was an amazing day, one I won’t soon forget.

I have to get out to Eunice Lake and the Tolmie lookout once a year, it’s tradition.  The view from the Tolmie lookout is one of the best in the park, with sweeping views of the Mountain, Mowich Lake, Eunice Lake, and the Puget Sound area.. This year, I had the bonus of spending 30 minutes watching a mamma bear with her two cubs foraging on the far side of the lake along the cliffs. This is the day I decided I needed to get a camera with a better zoom!!!

Sharon, Steve, and I hiked to an (undisclosed) lake on a sketchy and steep (undisclosed) trail. I won’t say where it is since it’s “unofficial” and we want it to stay that way, but it sure was gorgeous!!! 

S & S brought fishing gear, I brought a chair and book, and we spent the day in complete solitude away from the masses of other places at Rainier. Many of the wildflowers were past bloom, but the area is so beautiful it didn’t really matter. The wild ripe huckleberries along the way more than made up for lack of flowers!  Again, I have to pinch myself so I don’t forget how incredibly fortunate I am to live near Tahoma and have it as my playground.