Norse Peak Fall Hike

 Drove up Hwy 410 towards Crystal Mountain Ski Resort to hike up to Norse Peak. Started at the trailhead that is 4.2 miles up the Ski Resort Road. The trail is mostly evergreen trees, but we did see some fall color today. This hike is 10.8 mile round trip with about 3,000 ft of elevation gain.

 As we gained elevation while climbing up the switchbacks, we had views of Crystal Mountain Ski Resort and

the top of Mount Rainier beginning to peak over the ridge of Crystal Mountain.

 We enjoyed the colors along parts of the trail,

and the views

as we continued hiking up the trail.

Panorama looking east to south along the trail, Mt Adams and Mt Rainier hiding in the clouds.

Bright green lichen growing on the rocks.














 Further up, the trail goes along a ridge line. Panorama view to the north. Norse Peak is near the right in the distance.

 The trail crosses back to the south side of the ridge for a while.

Looking back to the west, and where we have hiked up today.

The trail crossed back to the north side of the ridge and we could see down to Basin Lake.

Just before the top of Norse Peak, we saw some fresh cougar prints.

From the top of Norse Peak, the clouds remained over Mt Adams and Mt Rainier.

Panorama looking south:

 Panorama looking north:

 As we were hiking back down the trail, we could see Mt Adams peeking through the clouds.

 And as the clouds moved across the sky, we would get peeks of Mt Rainier.

 Best view we had of Mt Rainier today, before it was completely covered in clouds.

 Squirrel!













Some of the falls colors and plants we saw on the trail today: