Comet Falls & Van Trump Park Winter Hike

We needed to pick a "short" hike today as we had limited time. Since there is very little snow for this time of year, we decided to hike up to Van Trump Park via Comet Falls at Mt Rainier National Park. The trailhead is just before Christine Falls between Longmire and Paradise.     Our hike today was about 6 miles round trip with 2000 ft of elevation gain. The hike is a steady climb starting in the forest. Shortly after starting the hike, you cross Van Trump Creek above Christine Falls. Here is the creek above the bridge:

Van Trump Creek below the bridge heading into Christine Falls (out of our sight on the bridge), you can see the road in the background. 

 The trail follows Van Trump Creek in Van Trump Canyon, going by several avalanche chutes that were empty of snow. Here we had a peak of Mt Rainier in the far distance.

 There are interesting rock formations along the way, in the summer and fall, I have seen pika among the rocks.

 On the hillside across Van Trump Canyon, we saw a solitary mountain goat grazing.

 A bridge crosses Van Trump Creek below Van Trump Falls.   There was some patches of compact snow along this part of the trail. In the early morning they were icy.

 Shortly after crossing the bridge, we could see Comet Falls in the distance.

 We saw a snow bridge at the falls.

 As we neared Comet Falls we got a peak of Mt St Helens through the trees.

 Soon after beginning the switch backs to Van Trump Park above Comet Falls, we encountered snow and put on our micro spikes.

 As we neared Van Trump Park, we had great views to the south. Mt St Helens:

 Mt Adams peaking out between Chutla and Eagle Peaks.

 Mt Rainier as seen from Van Trump Park:

Panorama at Van Trump Park, Mt Rainier on the left to the southern Cascade Mountains on the right:

 Close up Mt Adams behind Chutla & Eagle Peaks and Mt St Helens as seen from Van Trump Park

 We decided to hike up to the ridge line on the northeast side. The snow was compact, we did not need snowshoes.

View of Mt Rainier from the other side of the ridgeline.  We did not see any other hikers until we were descending back down off of Van Trump Park. We enjoyed the views and solitude.

Panorama looking at Mt Rainer and Cushman Crest, Mt Adams, Chutla & Eagle peaks in the far distance on the right side.

Descending from Van Trump Park back to Comet Falls.









We saw another hiker back down at Comet Falls

 

We were happy to see the mountain goat at the same spot across the canyon on the hike back down.