Navajo Peak

We drove out to the Stafford Creek Trailhead to hike up to Navajo Peak, a 13.7 mile round trip hike with 4,223 gain in elevation. There were lots of wildflowers in bloom and the views were fabulous! 2 small snow patches below Navajo Peak.

The first five miles goes up through the forest along Stafford Creek. There are several places where boot paths lead to the creek. We also found a few small creeks crossing the trail.

There were many places where the trees thinned and small meadows of wildflowers appeared along the trail.

These first 5 miles go by quickly, we were thankful for the shady areas and for the bright colorful wildflowers along the way.

About 5 miles from the trailhead, the trail goes around a large meadow where we found lots of shooting stars in bloom, across to the other side, the meadow was pink with all the shooting stars.

From the meadow, the trail continues up to Navajo Pass, Navajo Peak in the background.

Earl Peak to the west.

View from Navajo Pass to the north. The pass is 5.5 miles from the trailhead. We took a short lunch break here before continuing up to Navajo Peak.

From Navajo Pass to the Peak, is another mile plus of trail, climbing 1,200 ft. A steep trail, loaded with fabulous views. As we gained elevation, we began to see more peaks in the Enchantments.

Continuing up, we looked back and could see Mt Adams, the Goat Rocks and Mt Rainier to the southwest.

Pano from the summit of Navajo Peak to west and north.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today:

 

Glacier Vista and Christine Falls

 

Enjoying the views on this blue bird day!

Further up, we could look back and see Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens beyond the Tatoosh Peaks.

zoom of Mt Adams

zoom of Mt Hood beyond Pinnacle Peak

zoom of Mt St Helens

mother and baby marmots nuzzling

There was one spot of exposed trail about 100 feet long, chipmunk in lower left

view of Mt Rainier from Glacier Vista

Wide angle shot of Rainier from Glacier Vista

View looking down the slope from Glacier Vista

We hiked back along the lesser used Deadhorse Creek area on our way back, there were some steep slopes and we only saw 3 other hikers on this side

We stopped to view Christine Falls along the road on our drive down. View below the road bridge:

View above the road bridge:

We drove up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park to hike up to Glacier Vista in the snow. This was a little over 2 miles round trip with 1,150 ft of gain. I called and talked to a park ranger the day before to check on conditions, as they change rapidly this time of year. The snow pack is firm enough not to need snowshoes, but the snow gets quite slushy by late morning. He also suggested traction, so we used our micro spikes. The parking lot was maybe 1/4 full at 8 AM. It was easy to social distance on this wide snow pack. 

About half way up, we took a wide route around a couple of marmots resting in the snow. Mt Adams beyond the Tatoosh Peaks.