Mildred Point via Comet Falls Hike at Mt Rainier

Another beautiful September day, we headed up to Mt Rainier National Park, and headed up to Mildred Point on the far end of Rampart Ridge, via the Comet Falls trail, since the washed out portion of the trail has been restored. Our hike was 8 miles with 2500 ft elevation gain.

 The trail climbs steeply the first 0.3 miles and crosses Van Trump Creek above Christine Falls.

The next 1.7 miles continues to climb, but not as steeply through the forest. 

There are several smaller falls along Van Tump Creek.

 

 The trail also crosses a couple of open avalanche chute areas,

 we were fortunate to spot a pica among the rocks.

About 2 miles from the start of the trail, a bridge crosses Falls creek. 

There is a short spur trail that stays on the right side of the creek, getting close to the base of this waterfall. Some people stopped here thinking they were at Comet Falls, 

but this pretty waterfall is unnamed and just 0.25 miles short of reaching Comet Falls.

 After crossing the bridge, the trail takes a turn around a small bend, and soon 320 ft Comet Falls comes into view. The falls are reached within 0.2 mile, and a short spur trail takes you to a plunge pool at the base of the falls. This is about 2.5 miles from the start of the trail and a 1200 ft elevation gain.

As we climbed the switchbacks on the trail beyond the falls, we looked down and spotted a rainbow.

 

After climbing 500 ft in about 0.5 miles, the trail splits, to the right is Van Trump, to the left, the trail we took, to Mildred Point. This trail descends 100 ft and crosses Van Trump Creek above Comet Falls. After crossing the creek the next 0.5 miles is a nice flat hike along the opposite shore, before the trail splits. Staying on the main trail, takes you down Rampart Ridge to Longmire, the split to the right, up to Mildred Point, our destination.

 
The last section of the trail is 0.5 miles and climbs over 500 ft. There are three sections of this trail, a steep climb through a meadow. We frequently stopped to look at the gorgeous views behind us. We could see the southern Cascade mountains, including Mt St Helens and Mt Adams (obscured by the haze in the photo).

Then a less steep section, where we began to see Mt Rainier in front of us. We stopped and ate lunch here.


then another steep climb through a meadow.  There were still some wildflowers at this high elevation so late in the summer. And the views were even better.

At Mildred Point, we stayed for a while to enjoy the view of Success Point (300 ft below the true summit), and Kautz and VanTrump Glaciers. Mildred Point is at 5935 ft elevation.  Off to the left is Wilson Glacier.

 We returned back the same way we hiked up. Saw some interesting fungi in the woods.