THREE HIKING SISTERS, we love to hike together, but we don't all live in the same state. Sometimes it is only two of us, and sometimes we hike with others. This is a record of some of our hikes.
We drove up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park to hike the Nisqually Vista Trail, 1.2 miles with 200 ft of overall gain. View of Mt Rainier from the lower parking lot.
The trail is paved and goes through both meadows and forest.
When we reached the loop part of the trail we went counterclockwise. Some views through the trees.
Main view along the loop
zoom of the end of the Nisqually Glacier
Another peekaboo view of Mt Rainier
Drove up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park to snowshoe up to Glacier Vista, then down to the short Nisqually Vista loop trail. Overall 4 miles with 1,200 ft of gain. Not a lot of people out on this beautiful day. The trees were frosty this morning.
On my way up to Glacier Vista, everyone before me and those who passed me went up to Panorama Point, so I had the area by Glacier Vista to myself, until I headed back down the trail.
It was wonderful to snowshoe up to Glacier Vista with this view the majority of the way up!
From up at Glacier Vista, to the south, beyond the Tatoosh Range, I could see the Goat Rocks, Adams, Hood and St Helens.
zoom of the Goat Rocks
zoom of Mt Adams
zoom of Mt Hood beyond Pinnacle Peak
zoom of Mt St Helens
wide angle view of Mt Rainier from Glacier Vista
Snowshoeing back down, I could see a crack along the edge of a cornice.
As much as I enjoy snowshoeing up to the views of Rainier, I also enjoy the hike back down and these views of the Tatoosh Range. Lots of lovely fresh snow from Monday's storm.
It was never crowded today.
I couldn't resist turning around to enjoy the views of Rainier.
I headed down along the western edge of Paradise on my way to the Nisqually Vista Trail, lots of solitude here.
Nice view of most of the northern Tatoosh Peaks
On the west side of the lower Paradise parking area, is the 1 mile Nisqually Vista loop trail. There were pools marking the bridge over the creek.
I went counterclockwise along the loop. Nice sneak peek of Rainier.
Although most of the loop hike is in the woods, there are a couple of outstanding view spots.
At the far side of the loop, is the fabulous vista looking up the Nisqually River to the Nisqually Glacier and Mt Rainier.
Another nice view of Rainier on the far side of the loop.
The low winter sun and a moment of serenity along the trail.
I didn't notice this snow terrace when I was here a couple of weeks ago. Love seeing how the wind and snow created different formations.
a boot track led to this glimpse of Rainier through the trees.
