Drove up to Tipsoo Lake near Chinook Pass on Hwy 410 to do the Naches Peak Loop trail, a 5 mile hike. Part of this hike is in Mt Rainier National Park, and part is outside the park in the William O Douglas Wilderness along the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). We ended up only hiking about 2.5 miles in the snow, because of the increasing lack of visibility and not that confident of our route finding, as I had only done this hike once before in the summer several years ago.
There were icy sections of the trail, so we wore our microspikes, the snow wasn't deep enough to use our snowshoes. At the beginning of the trail, we could follow footprints of previous hikers earlier in the week.
A small snowman greeted us near the beginning of the trail. From the parking lot at Tipsoo Lake, we headed clockwise toward Chinook Pass.
The pond near Tipsoo Lake
The footbridge crossing Hwy 410 at Chinook Pass
Hiking along the PCT.
Entering the William O Douglas Wilderness
We saw lots of icicles this morning.
About 1.25 miles along the trail we came to some small subalpine lakes. Because of the decreasing visibility, the lack of tracks, and our not wanting to depend on our route finding; we turned around here and retraced our way back to the trailhead.
We saw some pinwheels on the hillside near the trail.
Panorama at Tipsoo Lake on our way back to the car.
We had fun hiking in the snow this morning!
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