Beautiful early September day, great day to go hiking on Mt Rainier. We decided to go to a part of the park we had not been to before. We hiked up to Mirror Lakes via Kautz Creek and Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. This was a 13.5 mile round trip hike with at least 3,200 ft elevation gain.
The trail starts across the road from the Kautz Creek Picnic Area, 3.5 miles from the Nisqually Entrance of Mt Rainier National Park.
The first mile is a very gentle walk through the woods, gaining about 200 ft.
At the first crossing of Kautz Creek, we would get a glimpse of Mt Rainier.
Although we were hiking on the weekend, we only saw one other couple hiking on the Kautz Creek Trail
Looking back at two of the crossings over Kautz Creek.
From here the trail begins to climb, gaining 3,000 ft in elevation over the next 4 miles.
We crossed Kautz Creek again a little over a mile further up the trail.
About 3 miles from the trail head, and after gaining about 2,000 ft in elevation, we took a short spur trail to this overlook to the south and had a break. In the distance, we could see part of Mt St Helens, but most of the mountain was obscured by haze.
As the trail continued to climb through the forest, we would get quick glimpses of Mt Rainier.
We found lots of ripe blueberries, and other berries along the trail.
One of the unnamed peaks we hiked pass.
A lot of the wildflowers were passed bloom at the lower elevations, but we saw lots of butterflies,
and as the trail continued to climb, we saw lots of wildflowers in bloom.
Between about 4 - 5 miles from the trailhead (as the trail goes along the east side of Mount Ararat), we found some nice flat or slightly downhill sections of the trail through open meadows, some with views of Mt Rainier, before the trail we climb some more.
At 5 miles from the trailhead, the trail descends down to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. Here we would have great views of Mt Rainier.
View of the the Indian Henry's Ranger station, it was closed today.
The Kautz Creek Trail joins the Wonderland Trail at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. We followed the Wonderland Trail to the west for 0.3 miles.
There were several creeks here and lots of wildflowers.
After 0.3 miles on the Wonderland Trail, we took the 0.7 mile trail to Mirror Lakes, there is a slight elevation gain to the lakes. Lots of gentians in bloom today.
Gorgeous views at Mirror Lakes, great spot for lunch. We had the lakes to ourselves today.
There were several large frogs and lots of tadpoles in the lakes.
Back at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, I was a little nervous about the 300 ft gain going up along the side of Mount Ararat, but it wasn't bad.
The clouds and haze had lifted a little bit to the south, we could see Mt Adams and Mt St Helens, but they were hazy and didn't show up in my photos.
We were very glad of the shaded forest as we descended back down the Kautz Creek Trail on this warm sunny day!
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