Jackie Steffan Mount Rainier was the 14th National Park we have visited together, and WOW, did it surprise us! I love a park with prominent mountains, hard hikes, and constant views; Mount Rainier certainly delivered. We drove in from Seattle and stayed for 3 days in mid August. The drive was about 2 hours and it was a very cloudy morning; as we drove in we kept mentioning to each other that maybe it was a good thing we planned a waterfall hike for the first day because it didn’t seem like it would be clear. We were very wrong, the clouds opened up and we were treated to three straight days of sunny skies, a rarity in the park!
The weather was in the upper 70’s and lower 80’s with chilly mornings. We stayed at an AirBnB in Packwood, on the southeast side of the park. Packwood was small, but had a couple good options for food and drinks.
This post won’t give you extensive details on each hike, Washington Trails Association is an excellent resource and will give you all the details on hikes across the state.
https://www.wta.org/go-outside/hikes
Day One
We spent the first day in the Longmire Region of Mount Rainier National Park, the first section of the park that was developed! We entered through the Nisqually entrance. There are so many evergreen trees in this area and it makes the drive and hikes smell so good! Below are the hikes and stops we made on our first day.
- Rampart Ridge to Wonderland Loop
- 5 miles, strenuous
- Park at the Longmire Visitors center, cross the street and make the loop clockwise. The Rampart Ridge trail is very steep, but will reward you with some amazing views of Mt. Rainier. You’ll eventually meet with the Wonderland trail, turn right and head back to the visitors center. This section has some giant trees, they were very impressive to see and made us feel very small!
- Lunch on the Paradise River
- We parked at the Carter falls trailhead/ Cougar Rock Picnic Area and hiked down to the river to sit on some rocks and eat our PB&Js. It was a quick walk and was very worth a quick detour, glacier fed rivers are like nothing else!
- Christine and Comet Falls
- 3.8 miles, strenuous
- There is an option to continue on to Van Trump Park for a total of 6 miles
- This trail was very popular, the parking was almost completely full when we got there. It was also very difficult and exposed to the sun on stretches. Make sure you wear sunscreen and bring extra water!
- You’ll see three falls on this hike, Christine early on, Bloucher, and finally Comet. When you get to Bloucher Falls, the trail gets a little hard to follow, but keep going to the left to find the trail again. You’re almost to Comet Falls!
- We continued on to Van Trump Park, which was definitely neat, as you can see Mt Adams, Mt Saint Helens, and Mt Hood on a clear day. If you are doing other high elevation hikes, you can definitely skip this because the views are comparable.
- Reflection Lake
- Our last stop was Reflection Lake. There was plenty of parking and it is an easy walk around one side of the lake. Unfortunately, it was too breezy, so we didn’t get to see the reflection of Mt. Rainier.
- There are ropes on this path to help the vegetation grow back. Please stay on the correct side of the ropes, let’s make the park last for future generations to enjoy.
Day Two
We spent the second day in the Paradise Region of Mount Rainier National Park.
- Skyline Trail
- 5.5 miles, strenuous
- This is one of the most iconic regions of the park, aptly named Paradise. We got the last parking spot in the main lot at 8am, so get there early!
- This hike was incredible, with lots of wildflowers, marmots, and views! I recommend going clockwise from the Inn. The first section is paved, but don’t let it fool you, it’s steep! The trail quickly turns to dirt, but the elevation gain doesn’t stop. Again, there are ropes on this trail to keep you on the path. Please stay on the trail to preserve the meadows.
- In the middle, you’ll reach Panorama Point. Your hard work will be treated with incredible views to the south of Mt Adams, Mt Saint Helens, and Mt Hood (on a clear day) and Mount Rainier to the north.
- Towards the end of the hike you’ll get to Myrtle Falls; it’s worth a stop for some iconic photo ops.
- Paradise to Ruby and Narada Falls
- 2.4 miles, moderate
- From the Paradise parking lot, head southeast towards the Inn, but staying on the road to get to the trailhead. The trail quickly descends downward. There are options to go to Reflection Lakes, but stay straight. The trail will eventually lead you to a road where you will cross the road and the bridge to get to the other half of the trail. Under the bridge, you can see Ruby Falls. Continue on the trail to Narada Falls.
- Narada Falls is easily accessible from its parking lot if you don’t want to commit to another hike. From the parking lot it’s a quick 0.1 mi walk down a steep trail to the falls overlook.
- Bench and Snow Lakes
- 2.6 miles, moderate
- This is another popular hike, so either get there early or later in the afternoon. We started at about 2:30 and there were more spots than when we drove by the day before at mid-day.
- To be honest, alpine lakes aren’t my favorite. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, so take that into consideration with this review. We liked Bench Lake a little better than Snow. The spur trail to Bench was very steep, but it offered better views of the lake and Mt Rainier. Snow Lake was very clear, but it was hard to find a place to take in the views at the lake’s edge because the trail doesn’t quite lead up to the lake. There is a fairly steep climb between the two lakes, but you get some Mt Rainier peek-a-boo views along the way.
Day Three
We spent our last day in the Sunrise region of Mount Rainier National Park, the highest section of the park you can drive to!
- Freemont Lookout Trail and Burroughs Mountain Trail
- 9 miles, moderate/hard
- Freemont Lookout was a very cool trail, steep at the beginning, but fairly level throughout (gradual ascent). There are great views of the north side of Rainier and interesting rock ledges to hike along. We had an encounter with a fox in the middle of the trail, who didn’t want to move. We gave it some space and tried to move it along with loud noises. A lovely chipmunk friend saved the day by squeaking and distracting the fox to go hunt, allowing us to sneak by. All in all, it was a very unique experience! At the lookout, you’ll be treated with 360 views and potentially a view of Mt Baker on a clear day. When we were there, one of the mountains had a giant herd of mountain goats!
- We continued on to Second Burroughs from here. The trail got steeper on the ascent to First Burroughs, leveled out at the top, and ascended again up to Second Burroughs. At the top of Second Burroughs there are great up-close views of Mount Rainier and its many glaciers. It made me feel like I was the closest to the mountain, even if we were basically on it the previous day.
- We made a complete loop from here back to the Visitor’s Center, passing Glacier Overlook and Shadow Lake.
- Silver Falls
- 1 mile, easy
- We parked near the Grove of the Patriarchs (unfortunately closed when we visited), or the first parking area after the Stevens Canyon Entrance. Cross the street and walk about 0.5 miles on the Eastside Trail to get to the falls. The water is insanely blue! We kept making comments that it looked like someone colored it with dish soap.
- There is another 3 mile loop from the Ohanapecosh campground, but the route we chose was very easy and shorter.
Food
- Packwood Brewing Co., Packwood (a lot of people were getting beer and ordering pizza from Cruiser’s)
- Blue Spruce Bar and Grill, Packwood
- Copper Creek Inn, Ashford
- The Mountain Goat, Packwood
Related Posts
If interested in a Washington National Park road trip, see our three day itineraries in Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park.
