Paradise Snowshoe

We drove up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park to snowshoe. It was very foggy, so we snowshoed around about 3 miles and 700 ft of gain. We also visited Myrtle Falls, Narada Falls and Christine Falls.

Frozen Myrtle Falls
 

Paradise Inn 

Paradise River upstream from Narada Falls

 Paradise River above Narada Falls

 Narada Falls

 Cascade along the road by Christine Falls


















Upper Christine Falls

Lower Christine Falls

Mount Rose

Decided to hike up Mount Rose for a good workout today. By going up the upper loop clockwise, we gained 3,500 ft of elevation in 2.9 miles! Total hike was 6.4 miles. Had some brief views on this cloudy day.
The trail starts out flat for maybe 0.1 mile.

Lovely cascade at the bridge crossing.

Snow began around 2,900 ft.

Lots of icicles on boulders and

rocky cliffs.

 We had a peek of Mt Rainier between cloud layers through the trees.

Views of Mt Elinor as we neared the top of Mount Rose

View of Lake Cushman far below.

Far end of Lake Cushman

Olympic peaks covered in snow

View from the top of Mount Rose

Although no one had continued on the loop past the summit since last night's snow, we could tell where the trail was and decided to continue down the loop.















Lots of tall snow covered trees.

Descending clouds obscured the views.

We crossed a couple of small streams near the end of the loop.

As we hiked down near the end of the trail, we entered the fog.

Christine Falls and Reflection Lakes Snowshoe

Drove up to Mt Rainier National Park to snowshoe up to Reflection Lakes from Narada Falls parking area, first stopping to take photos of Christine Falls. About 3.5 miles with 700 ft of gain.
View of Mt Rainier from Longmire while waiting for the road to open.

cascade near Christine Falls

Upper Christine Falls

Lower Christine Falls

Paradise River as seen near the Narada Falls parking area.

Paradise River from the trail

lovely cascade on the Paradise River

so many wintry views of the Paradise River this morning

Ruby Falls

top of Ruby Falls

upstream from Ruby Falls (seen on the other side of the bridge above the falls)
















Because the avalanche forecast was low below tree level today, I opted to continue the Reflection Lakes via Inspiration Point.











View of Mt Rainier near Inspiration Point












Lane Peak and other peaks along the Tatoosh from Inspiration Point

Copper, Iron and Pyramid Peaks as seen from the trail

Pinnacle and other Tatoosh peaks

Mt Rainier from Reflection Lakes, deer prints in the snow












another view from Reflection Lakes

Took the trail up over Inspiration Saddle on Mazama Ridge for the way back, the trail was well compacted the entire way.
I did not see any other people this morning until I left the lake.

some views of Rainier from the lakes trail on Mazama Ridge

Narada Falls

Lane peak from above Narada Falls

















On the drive out, I noticed these cascades near the beginning of the Westside Road. Great day for waterfalls and cascades!