Last week Frani and I headed back up Rainier to Paradise – can’t get enough of the beauty up there! We headed up the Skyline trail, up and over Panorama Point, and up a bit further from there before starting our glissades down toward Mazama. It was another tank-top day on the mountain, and 5 days later I’m peeling from sunburn like a snake loses it’s skin. Note to self—- next time, RE-apply sunscreen several times, and use at least SPF 1,000!!!
We had a hard time finding the trail down from Mazama Ridge to the road, so ended up doing a few crazy short glissades down a nice and steep embankment before finally getting down. All in all, another wonderful day in Paradise 🙂
I’ll let the photos speak to the beauty of Mt. Rainier in wintertime.
Time to get “The Beast” backpack (Gregory Deva) out and start training for summer hiking. Fortunately, I get to condition on Mt. Peak in Enumclaw twice week while the kiddo is in class, which makes for a great conditioning hike. It’s 1000 feet to the top, and you can either take the steep trail up (1 mile/1000 feet), or the not-so-steep side up (1.5+ miles/1000 feet). Or, better yet, park one one side, go up to the top and down the other side, then turn around and back to the top and back down to the car. That gets you about 4.5+ miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain and 2000 feet of loss. The only problem is that you get some pretty strange looks when hauling a fully loaded backpack, while most people do this carrying a single water bottle, if that. Oh, well…
As John Muir, a brilliant man, said… “The mountains are calling, and I must go… “
Rainier from Mt. Peak, Enumclawgreat trail for proprioceptionsunset from Mt. peakMt. Rainier
Fran and had a most glorious, wonderful, fantastic, warm, sun-burning day on Easter snow-shoeing up and over Panorama Point from Paradise at Mt. Rainier. I’ll admit, I had tried snow-shoeing up to the top of Panorama Point a few weeks ago and chickened out, turning around and sliding/clawing my way back down, vowing that I WOULD get up there some day. I finally I got to the top and it was amazing.
We got to the parking lot at Paradise just before 8 a.m. and started the nice hike up Skyline Trail, then followed a bunch of others up the Panorama hill. We were very very blessed to have nice long, sharp fangs on our snow-shoes, because it was basically a 45-degree ice slope and others without snow shoes or micro-spikes were having a hard time. Hard to describe the view from the top, other than to say it’s incredible !!
at the bottom of Panorama Pointlittle people heading to the top of Panorama PointMade it to the top!there’s a biiiig hill up there
Coming down the other side of Panorama, we got into a kind of sketchy traverse and ended up doing our first fun glissade to get out of it, then of course, since we were already wet and snow-covered, we just had to glissade down every nice hill we could find between Panorama and Mazama Ridge 🙂 Too much fun, think of it as an analogy between surfing vs. body-surfing and sledding vs. free-butt-sliding.
We stopped and had a picnic with incredible views of the Tatoosh Range, Goat Rocks, Mts. Adams, Hood, and St. Helens, then wound our way down Mazama Ridge and back to the Lodge. All in a a most glorious way to spend Easter, and one more check off of the ole’ Bucket List.
Mt. AdamsMt. St. HelensMt. Hoodnear the Pano Point restroom, closed for the seasonglissadeI made it down!little ant people on top of Panorama Pointbutt trackswhat a hard but great day
It’s said that there is more biomass in the Hoh Rain Forest than anywhere else on earth. This place is magical, especially when you get to be there on a sunny, beautiful weekend, which is rare considering it gets 140 to 170 inches of rainfall per year!
I spent the morning walking about 4 miles down the Hoh River Trail, which leads about 18 miles up into the Olympic Mountains. I found a great lunch spot along the river, and spent a lot of time there soaking up the sun. It’s hard work hugging as many trees as I did!!
local lawn-mowersphonebooth at the Hoh ranger stationheavenly trailbiiiig treeHoh Riveranother beautiful part of teh trailthere’s a log under there somewheregorgeous Hoh River trailmoss beardsHoh Riverlunchtime – soaking up the sun!a high-tech bridgeanother high-tech bridgesunshine in the rainforestnot a square inch of bare ground in the rainforest
I stayed at the Hoh Campground, so in the afternoon when it got busy with day tourists, I took a nice nap at my campsite, then headed back in the evening to walk the Hall of Mosses trail and the Spruce Nature Trail that are close to the Visitor Center, once most of the people had cleared out.
The forest along the Hall of Mosses trail is older than surrounding area, easy to tell by the huge trees and massive amounts of moss that have been growing for hundreds of years. Some of these trees look alien with their coatings of hanging moss, they’re just gorgeous!
The local herd of Roosevelt Elk meandered their way through the campground at dinnertime, keeping the lawn nicely mowed. All in all, a glorious weekend spent with me, myself, I, and a really cool rainforest 🙂
there used to be a nurse log under this line of treesmoss, anyone?being one with the treeslove this natural tree archhug!massive treesthe trail goes right under these treesat the campgroundat the campgroundat the campground
After visiting the Hoh Rainforest, I stopped at Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula on the way home and spent a while wandering around enjoying the incredible weather and looking at the tide pools. What a beautiful place, especially when the sun is shining and the tide is out …
I decided, coming home from Hood River this weekend, that after driving past Multnomah Falls dozens and dozens of times over the years, I’d better get up to the top at some point. I was early enough to avoid most of the weekend crowd on a beautiful day.
The trail is paved the whole way, except for the last 1/10th of a mile. It’s a series of switchbacks that take 1-1/4 mile to get up to 620 feet elevation to the top of the falls, and it reaffirmed my hatred of walking on pavement. But I did it anyway, and glad I did.
The lookout platform at the top is wonderful, literally built out over the drop-off of the top of Multnomah Falls, with the tiny little parking lot 620 feet below. There are some nice views of the Columbia River and the Gorge along the way too. I only saw a couple of people up top, but on my way down the hordes of tourists had arrived and were huffing and puffing their way to the top, so it was perfect timing for me to make my escape 🙂
Multnomah Falls and Benson BridgeTop tier of Multnomah Falls taken from Benson Bridgelooking straight down from Benson Bridgenear the top of the fallsTop of the falls viewing platformnear the toplooking over the Columbia Rivertop of Multnomal Falls, 620 feet
I only got to hike part way up Eagle Creek this weekend, and after seeing the little bit I did, I definitely want to go back and get all the way to Tunnel Falls sometime this year!
It’s a nice steady grade all the way up the Eagle Creek canyon, with a few fun spots on the trail that have been blasted out of the cliff walls with heavy-duty cable to hold onto if needed. I had my trusty hiking poles and never used the cable, and felt very safe, although very wet after walking through all the water dripping off the canyon walls.
Metlako Falls is nice, but Punchbowl Falls is just beautiful, and of course the photos don’t do it justice at all. Incredible how the water has carved a big bowl out of the riverbed.
I only got as far as High Bridge before turning around, about half-way up the canyon. I’ll get back sometime soon and hike the whole thing, probably make an overnight backpack trip out of it, just for fun 🙂
Eagle Creek near the trailheadwaterfall rain on the cliff trailtrail above Eagle CreekMetlako Fallslooking from the trail down to Eagle Creektrailat Metlako Falls overlookHigh BridgePunchbowl FallsPunchbowl Falls
The hike to Triple Falls in the Columbia River Gorge is a must if you like waterfall hunting. Begin at Horsetail Falls, right at the trailhead and a tourist stopping spot. From there it’s a short hike up to Oneonta Falls, where the trail takes you behind the falls – not often you get to see a waterfall from the reverse side. From here most tourists head back to their cars, but if you keep going, you’ll get to Triple Falls and a lot more solitude. Tori and I had a picnic lunch on a huge log out over the stream, just above Triple Falls, and then had fun scrambling up the riverbed on big boulders. This is a very rocky trail, watch your ankles 🙂
UPDATE: I’ve heard that beginning in 2022 permits will be required for some of these areas. Probably a good thing, since the last time I tried to hike there it was so crowded I literally felt like cowering in a corner.
Love love love the hike to Upper Palisades Lake in Mt. Rainier NP. No good views of the big Mountain itself, but this hike definitely has its own beauty. There are only 2 campsites at Upper Palisades Lake, so if you’re looking for an un-crowded area in MRNP, this is a good spot. The meadow below the Palisades cliffs is beautiful, makes you feel very small. When I was there late last summer, gentians were blooming everywhere. This will be another one of my “must do yearly” backpack trips.
starting at Sunrise Pointgentianon trailgentianPalisades cliffsPalisades the meadowslooking down on Upper Palisades LakeUpper Palisades campgroundwater source at the campgroundbeautiful mountain waterUpper Palisades lakelooking toward Puget SoundUpper Palisades Lake
This is the first overnight hike of the season into Mt. Rainier NP for me, because of its lower elevation. Unlike most other campgrounds, you hike down to South Mowich from the Paul Peak trailhead, not up. Not any great, spectacular views of the Mountain except for a few spots on the Paul Peak trail, but the South Mowich River valley is beautiful in and of itself, and when everything else around Rainier is still under feet of snow, this is a good option.
