We drove to the end of Obstruction Point Road in Olympic National Park to hike down to Grand Valley and Gladys Basin, about 9.8 miles round trip with 2,500 ft loss/gain. View of the Olympic Mountains from the parking area.
zoom of Mt Olympus
We were happy to see these paintbrush in bloom up on the ridge.
We found harebells blooming along many portions of our route today.
This rabbit was not shy.
Both pink and white heather were still in bloom.
Gorgeous views on a "cloudy" day! Looking south-southwest from the ridge.
A field brighten with bistort
Bright blue tarns to the northeast from the ridge
More tarns on the east side of the ridge
View looking down into Grand Valley with either Grand Lake or Moose Lake far below.
Hiking down the switchbacks we went through a couple of meadows. Here there were many harebells and yarrow in bloom.
We saw hundreds of gentian blooming in Grand Valley.
Near the stream were grass of parnassus (also bog orchids, monkey flowers, willow-herb and more).
Meadow full of pearly everlasting and orange paintbrush
Grand Lake below, we continued on the trail up to Moose Lake.
Butterfly on arnica, the butterflies were very busy, it was difficult to get any photos of them today.
We took a break near the south end of Moose Lake.
A field full of small goldenrod and yarrow as we look back down on Moose Lake
One of the small streams that crossed the trail
Another field full of yellow blooms
Looking over towards Gladys Lake
We enjoyed the many areas of wildflowers throughout the trail.
Grand Creek flowing through Gladys Basin
A beautiful tarn in Gladys Basin
We found this lovely spot on rocks off the trail to take our lunch break and enjoy this view.
Enjoying the views of Moose Lake as we returned down Grand Valley.
After hiking back up out of Grand Valley to the ridge, we saw rain falling over Mt Olympus in the distance.
some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today:
I drove up to the Carbon River Entrance at Mt Rainier National Park to hike up to Ranger Falls and Green Lake, 9.8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1,500 ft. I only saw one other hiker on this trail today. After the storm damage of the road last year, it was nice to see the road was fixed and we could drive all the way to the parking area. The first 3.1 miles are through a lush forest, lots of trees, moss and nurse logs. Although it is spring on the calendar, it is still winter in the mountains.
The first 1.75 miles had a few snow patches on the closed road to the Ranger Falls trailhead. The elevation gain along this road walk is very mild.
The snow on the road walk became more consistent after 2 miles.
Shortly before the turn off to the Ranger Falls trail, the forest open for a view of Tirzah Peak and the Carbon River,
Ranger Falls is one mile up the trail.
After the short side trail to Ranger Falls, the trail continues uphill to Green Lake, which is maybe 0.25 miles after crossing the log bridge on Ranger Creek.
view of Ranger Creek from the log bridge
It was cloudy at Green Lake, very quiet and serene.
The ice is obviously melting on the lake, so I was surprised to see fresh boot prints on the probably thin ice.
