Palisades Lakes

We drove up to Sunrise Point at Mt Rainier National Park to hike the Palisades Lakes Trail, by adding on Hidden Lake and the side trails to the lakes we did about 9 miles with 1,850' of overall gain. Great hike for a cloudy day with no views of Mt Rainier.

Looking down at Sunrise Lake and the valley we will be hiking in from near the parking area.

We saw several pika running through the talus field on our way down to Sunrise Lake.

Sunrise Lake from the lakeshore

After returning to the trail, we hiked a mile down to Clover Lake and took the spur trail to the lakeshore.

Clover Lake

There were many huckleberry bushes along these trails with delicious ripe huckleberries!

From Clover Lake, we continued another mile through the forest and open meadow areas. We enjoyed the views of the Sourdough Mountains

 as the clouds moved through the peaks.

We hiked up the spur trail to Hidden Lake, here there were more wildflowers, especially along the creek bed.

The trail crosses the creek.

View of the rocky ridge on the north side of Hidden Lake

Wide angle view of Hidden Lake from the east side, we followed the official trail that went along part of Hidden Lake shores

small tarn near Hidden Lake, Marcus Peak on the far right

Hidden Lake from the south side

another view at Hidden Lake

After returning to the main trail, we decided to continue down to Upper Palisades Lake, view of one of the Tom Dick and Harry Lakes that was close to the trail as we passed by.

Trail down to Upper Palisades Lake

We took a lunch break along the shore of Upper Palisades Lake

View of Upper Palisades Lake as we hiked back up to the main trail.

We hiked back up and took the side trail to Dick Camp, view of the lake we passed by earlier this morning from the side trail.

I think this lake is Dick Lake, the middle of the Tom Dick and Harry Lakes

another view at Dick Lake

We saw lots of gentian ready to open. Clover Lake in the distance as we continue to hike back up the trail.

The clouds were rising in the afternoon and we had better views of the Sourdough Mountains.

This is a beautiful trail alternating between forest and open meadows.

As we were crossing the talus field on our way back up to the trailhead we saw this pika resting on a rock,

and two ground squirrels

waiting at the trail junction to Sunrise Lake.

Beautiful view of the Sourdough Mountains as we end our hike today.

some of the wildflowers and fall colors we saw along the trail: