Narada Falls to Reflection Lakes to Mazama Ridge Loop Snowshoe on Mt Rainier

Gorgeous day to end 2014! We headed up to Mt Rainier National Park for a great day of snowshoeing. Parked at Narada Falls (the trail down to Narada Falls is too dangerous this time of year). 

 Here you can see Paradise River above the falls near where our trail begins.

Because the avalanche danger was very low for the road via Inspiration Point, we took that route to Reflection Lakes, then hiked up the Lakes trail to Inspiration Saddle and up the unmarked Mazama Ridge Route to 4th crossing, then the closed road back toward Narada Falls. The "green" marked route on the map. This was about 6 miles with at least 1300 ft of elevation gain.

The first part of the trail is 0.35 miles along the Paradise River in the woods.

There were beautiful partially frozen falls where the Paradise River comes under the bridge. At the road, we went right to snowshoe along the closed road to Inspiration Point.

 Great views at Inspiration Point!

 Sun rising behind the Tatoosh Range.

 Lots of icicles. Road along Inspiration Point to Feflection Lakes is just over 1 mile.

 We hiked a bit at Reflection Lakes, taking lots of pictures.

 After Reflection Lakes, found the trail heading toward Paradise along the Lakes Trail, it is 0.4 miles to Inspiration Saddle.

 Beautiful winter wonderland!

 At Inspiration Saddle you can continue along the marked trail to Paradise, or take a right (go east) up the unmarked trail along Mazama Ridge. We were happy to find tracks to follow since the last storm.
This section of the trail is 1.5 miles with about 600 - 700 ft of elevation gain.















Along Mazama Ridge, looking south to the Tatoosh Range.

 To the east, Goat Rocks

 We found a wonderful spot along Mazama Ridge to eat our lunch and enjoy the view.

 We descended down toward the closed road at Fourth Crossing, about 0.5 miles

 Paradise area is in the background across Paradise Valley,

 with Mount Rainier to the north.

 Small falls seen along the way.

 We decided not to hike over to Paradise today, but to take the closed road back to Narada Falls. This is about 2 miles to finish the trip.
Heading toward the Tatoosh Range.

 Looking back at Mt Rainier across Paradise Valley.

Rampart Ridge Snowshoe on Mt Rainier

 Today, we headed up to Longmire on Mt Rainier to snowshoe the Rampart Ridge trail. This is a 5 1/2 mile hike with 1200 ft of elevation gain.  From the parking lot at Longmire we walked across the road to the Trail of Shadows, this time we went right (counter clockwise) on the Trail of Shadows Trail. The small pool of water near the trail was bubbling from natural springs below!
We didn't need to put on our snowshoes for the first part of the hike.

 This spring also had bubbling hot water.

 Along this side of the trail we also saw a replica of an early homestead cabin,

and this pretty stream.

 We were the first ones to head up the Rampart Ridge Trail since last nights' storm, fresh trail. We hiked up about 1/2 mile before the snow was deep enough to put on our snowshoes.

No views of the Mountain or valley below today, but lots of beautiful snow covered trees.

We found the sign still visible where our trail joins the Wonderland Trail.

Beautiful snowshoe trip in the woods (no danger of avalanches along this trail)!

Many soothing water running scenes to enjoy today.

There is a large downed tree near the bottom of the ridge. We choose to take off our snowshoes to climb over. And were able to hike the rest of the loop trail back to Longmire in our boots.

Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trail and side trip to Doughty Falls Cougar Mountain Fall Hike

 An easy hike on Cougar Mountain in King County. The Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trail Loop and connector trail to the parking lot is a 4 mile hike with 1200 ft elevation gain. From Shy Bear Pass we took the Deceiver Trail down to Doughty Falls and added another 1.5 miles and 250 ft of elevation down and up to our day.
This is a nice hike in second growth forest.

 After 1/2 mile, the trail splits to the left Whittaker Wilderness, to the right Gombu Wilderness Cliff Trail. This is a loop trail, we choose to hike up the Whittaker Wilderness and come down the Gombu Wilderness Cliff Trail.

There are a few small bridges and some boardwalk sections that would make for a fun hike with kids.

 At Shy Bear Pass, we decided to take the Deceiver Trail down to Doughty Falls to add a bit more milage to our day.

 Another fun boardwalk over water.

Doughty Falls is a small waterfall going over a large boulder.  If you had lots of time and energy, you could continue along the Deceiver Trail and turn up the Shy Bear Trail back to Shy Bear Pass. We decided to return the way we came.

There is a short 0.1 mile spur to Wilderness Peak from where the Whittaker and Gombu Trails meet.

We found a nice bench to sit on at the peak, but no view as the trees have grown all around.

From the Gombu Trail, a small waterfall can be seen where the bridge connects back to where the loop trail began.

Skookum Flats Fall Hike

This is an easy hike along the White River, along Highway 410. The hike goes pass Skookum Falls, and after 4 miles connects with the Buck Creek Trail. We didn't go that far today.

There were some patches of snow along the trail.

Skookum Falls can be seen through the trees along the trail.

After crossing the creek at 2 miles, a sign marks the side trail up to Skookum Falls.

The side trail is less than .25 miles and climbs up 320 ft.

The trail gets right up to the falls.

Mt Ellinor Fall Hike

 A beautiful fall day with mostly sunny skies, we headed out to the Olympic Peninsula to hike up Mt Ellinor. We choose to do the "shorter" hike, starting at the upper trailhead. This is a 3.2 mile hike with 2,500 ft elevation gain.
The first part of the hike is in the woods, it starts steep and continues steep the entire way up.

 Plenty of places to stop and admire the view on the way up (and back down). Here we can see the parking area of the upper trailhead, Hoods Canal, Lake Cushman, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens.

The trail continues up out of the forest, crossing an avalanche scree.

We saw some beautiful fall colors.

Looking up at the top of Mt Ellinor, almost there.

Panorama from the top looking East (north to south). We could see Mt Baker, Mt Washington (near peak), Glacier Peak, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens, downtown Seattle, Hoods Canal, Puget Sound, Lake Cushman

zoom of Mt Baker

zoom of Glacier Peak

Panorama looking West (south to north) The Olympic Mountains.

zoom of Mt Olympus

 I made it up the rocky top of Mt Ellinor!

 and was grateful for the encouragement and help getting down!

We spent an hour on the summit enjoying the views and the beautiful day. Along with a few cute rodents.