Snowshoe along part of the Pacific Crest Trail Washington

We started our snowshoe trip at the Commonwealth Creek and Red Mtn trailhead on the Pacific Crest Trail. We followed tracks before us climbing up the trail in the forest.


It wasn't long before the tracks veered away from the regular trail of to the east. We decided to keep following these tracks. Soon we were rewarded with views of the surrounding mountains.

Lots of climbing, but the snow was packed in the tracks making for easy snowshoeing

 

Snoqualmie Pass was covered in fog & clouds, but we had marvelous views!

 We continued around the bluff heading east

 Enjoying the views, until we decided it was time to turn around.

 On the way back, the clouds lifted and we could see the skiers at Snoqualmie West.

Snowshoe near Longmire on Mt Rainier

Beautiful sunny day, we were hoping to snowshoe up towards Eagle Peak, but weren't able to find the trail in the fresh snow. From Longmire, we crossed the bridge over the Nisqually River.

 Looking back we had a great view of Mt Rainier

 We hike through the woods

 Passed and crossed several small creeks

 We reached a ridge line with no views due to the trees. When we no longer felt safe because of the many tree wells, we turned back. Enjoyed our day wandering in the woods.

This stellar jay was hoping for a handout.

Magnesia Falls Hike California

Located in Rancho Mirage California, the hike is only open to hikers Oct - Dec, 

to protect the Bighorn sheep

The hike is in a dry wadi

There are several scrambles up dry waterfalls

 The rocks are beautiful

 There are plenty of areas to rest to have a look around

 A place to climb up the side of the canyon 

 Beautiful day in the desert

 I think we climbed about 1000 ft overall

Mt San Jacinto to Idylwild Hike California

From Palm Springs, we rode the Gondola up to San Jacinto State Park, elevation 8516 ft

 We had a good group to hike with

 There are many trails to choose from in the park.

Our trail would cross over the Pacific Crest Trail at the saddle

 The views from the other side of Mt San Jacinto

 Beautiful woods with fabulous boulders

 a wide variety of rock formations to admire

 Views of Suicide Rock and Perris Lake

Looking back up the trail, where we came down.

View of Lily Peak

I think we hiked about 8 miles, mostly downhill

Whitewater Preserve Hike California

The Whitewater Preserve is a beautiful spot in the San Gorgonio Wilderness

 The Pacific Crest Trail crosses through here, so you can hike for many miles to the north or south

 The Whitewater River runs year around

 We headed south on the Pacific Crest Trail

 Hiking up the Cottonwood Trail

 Views from the Cottonwood Trail

 Returned via the Canyon View Loop Trail, I was glad I saw this sign at the end of the hike.

Snowshoe to Panorama Point and Myrtle Falls on Mt Rainier

Beautiful day with low avalanche risk, hoped to hike the Skyline Trail at Paradise on Mt Rainier.

 Took the Alta Vista Trail toward Panorama Point

 Snowshoes off and Yak trax on to climb up to Panorama Point

 Fabulous views at Panorama Point

 Then we hiked up to the High Skyline Trail

 From the High Skyline Trail we could see Mt Adams, Mt Hood & Mt St Helens

 Unable to continue across the Skyline Trail because of ice, so we returned the way we came

 Glissading down the steep parts!

 Since there was still lots of daylight, snowshoed over to Glacier Vista,

Then back to Paradise and around the other side 

 to Myrtle Falls.

 Back to the parceling lot in time to watch the moon rise.

Fabulous day out in the snow!

Lakes Loop Snowshoe on Mt Rainier

We decided to head up to Paradise on Mt Rainier for our first snowshoe hike in many years. 

When there is no snow the Lakes hike is a 5 mile loop with about 1400 ft elevation gain overall.

Because there was only a couple of feet of snow and no avalanche danger, 

we were able to follow the summer trail.

There were high clouds covering the peak, but the overall visibility was good.

We had great views of the Tatoosh Range all day.

 The falls look beautiful in the snow.

 Get a good workout climbing up to Mazama Ridge.

 We were able to find the trail signs, even though there was no trail.

 Stopped to eat lunch by one of the small lakes up on Mazama Ridge.

 Overlook of Lake Louise on the way down Mazama Ridge

 The Reflection Lakes were frozen, because of the geothermal activity on Mt Rainier,

the ice is never thick enough to walk on.

 We had several log bridges to cross over the many creeks

 

We snowshoed the entire loop without seeing anyone, we did see wild cat and fox prints in the snow.

Storm clouds came in as we were leaving the park.