Tolmie Peak Summer Hike

 We drove up to Mowich Lake on the west side of Mt Rainier National Park today to hike to Eunice Lake and Tolmie Peak.
This hike starts on the west side of Mowich Lake. This is a 5.6 mile round trip with 1,700 ft of elevation gain (counting all the ups and downs). The trail starts in the forest and goes around the north end of Mowich Lake with a peek-a-boo view of Mt Rainier.

 We saw a western gray squirrel posing for us in the forest.

 The trail goes past some tall cliffs.

 Although the flowers are past peak, there are plenty of wildflowers to enjoy on this hike.

 Along with the wildflowers, we saw lots of butterflies and moths.

 The corn lilies are almost ready to bloom. We also found lots of ripe blueberries to enjoy.














Panoramic view of Eunice Lake from the shoreline:

Looking up at the ridge line behind Eunice Lake, we saw some mountain goats.

View of Eunice Lake from the west, before ascending up the trail to Tolmie Peak

 More wildflowers along the trail.

 As the trail rose, we began to get great views of Mt Rainier.

 View of Mt Rainier from the fire lookout on Tolmie Peak.

Panorama looking to the east from the lookout on Tolmie Peak

 Panorama looking to the north from the lookout on Tolmie Peak

 We walked along the Tolmie Peak ridge line for a while.









There were wildflowers growing along the steep rocks.
















As the clouds moved in, we only had peek-a-boo views of Mt Rainier.

As we were hiking back down the trail from Tolmie Peak to Eunice Lake, we looked across toward one of the glaciers and saw this large waterfall spewing water, amazing!

Some of the wildflowers and plants we saw on our hike today: