Comet Falls, Van Trump Park and Beyond on Mt Rainier

 Today's forecast was cloudy with 20% chance of rain. We headed up to Mt Rainier for a hike I've been wanting to do for awhile. Last September, we hiked up to Comet Falls and up, bypassing the side trail to Van Trump Park and on to Mildred Point. It was a great hike, but I've been curious about that side trail to Van Trump Park, reading mixed reviews. So today we hiked to Van Trump Park, it is now on my list of favorite hikes!
The trail starts just before Christine Falls, about 10 mile from the Nisqually Entrance. We hiked passed the end of the "maintained trail" for a total of 8.5 miles round trip with 3,000 ft of elevation gain.
It is a steep hike almost the entire hike.

 A short distance up the trail, a bridge crosses Van Trump Creek above Christine Falls. The Falls can not be seen here, but Van Trump Creek tumbles down towards the falls both above the bridge and

 below the bridge.

The trail to Comet Falls is mostly in the woods, providing shade on this steep trail. The trail follows Van Trump Creek with many opportunities to view the creek and the many cascades coming downhill.

 We found some ripe blueberries along this popular trail.

There was an area along the trail where we could see Mt Rainier up ahead, cloud over the top. We hoped the cloud would not descend before we reached Van Trump Park.

About 1.6 miles up the trail, a log bridge crosses a side creek with views of Bloucher Falls.

Continue on the trail where you will soon see

Comet Falls (392 ft) is 1.9 miles from the trailhead with a 1200+ ft elevation gain. 

The trail now ascends steep switchbacks gaining 650 ft in 0.6 miles.

Here the trail divides, to the left down Rampart Ridge with the spur trail to Mildred Point. To the right, the spur trail to Van Trump Park.

A short way up this spur, the trail opens into a meadow with a view of Mt Rainier. The trail to the left gives an overlook of Mt Rainier, the trail to the right continues up to Van Trump Park.

0.3 miles from where the Van Trump Park Trail begins, the "maintained trail" ends. But there is a very clear boot path that continues.

Looking south from this point we could see in the distance

 Mt St Helens and

Mt Adams

Just beyond the sign marking the end of the "maintained trail" the view open up toward Mt Rainier. We decided to follow the boot trail until we needed to turn around at noon.

 We could see many waterfalls coming off of Mt Rainier.

We took a short break in Van Trump Park to enjoy the views. Panorama looking north to east to south:

 Panorama looking south and west.

Close up of Van Trump Glacier on Mt Rainier.

We continued up the boot trail, through a meadow where wildflowers were still in bloom,

 looking back toward the Tatoosh Range and brief glimpse of Mt Adams & Mt St Helens being lost in the clouds.

 More waterfalls.

 Reaching another high meadow, beyond the tall trees, the green hill on the right is Mildred Point (where we hiked to last September).

 We stopped to eat lunch, then decided to hike a little further on this ridge line.

Where we had a great view of Mt Rainier between the trees. We hiked about 0.75 miles beyond the end of the "maintained trail", when it was time for us to turn around.

On the way back down the trail, we looked back and saw the cloud had lifted off the mountain, BEAUTIFUL!

 We also saw many gray jays and

 butterflies,

















Here are some of the many wildflowers and berries we saw today:

We stopped at the Longmire Visitor Center to look at this relief map of Mt Rainier to get a better idea of where we hiked today. We hope to return one day and hike a little further than we did today.

9/28/14: Hiked up to the saddle between Eagle Peak and Chutla Peak. Had a great view of Mt Rainier looking toward Van Trump Park. Took this picture and drew a red line where we had hiked up to Van Trump Park and beyond!