Skyline Loop Trail at Paradise

In honor of of the NPS 101st Birthday, I headed up to Paradise on Mt Rainier to hike the High Skyline Loop Trail. 5.5 miles with 1,700 ft of gain. Although the wildflowers were well past the peak of the season, there were still plenty of flowers.

I decided to do this hike counterclockwise and headed out past the Paradise Inn. I wouldn't see another hiker for over 2 miles. These two deer were just above the trail near the inn.










The trail is paved for a short ways.

 At 0.3 miles, there is a short spur trail overlooking Myrtle Falls.

 View of Mt Rainier from the bridge above Myrtle Falls.

 There were some fields of asters

 and subalpine daisies. Tatoosh Range in the distance looking down Paradise Valley

 There are several small creeks heading up past 4th Crossing.

Mother and baby marmot

 Fields of flowers on the way up Mazama Ridge.

 Lupine

A little more than 1.5 miles from Paradise Inn, the trail drops down a little bit to cross the creeks coming off of Paradise Glacier.  Lots of monkey flowers near the creeks

Heading up the steps towards the junction with the Golden Gate trail, this marmot was enjoying the morning sun.

marmot nibbling on lupine

I enjoyed the views walking towards Mt Rainier going counterclockwise on the Skyline Trail today.

 beargrass













mixture of wildflowers

 lousewort

 fireweed and a melting snow field

 paintbrush

 view of the trail above Golden Gate and Edith Creek looking across to the Tatoosh Range.

Peaking across the Tatoosh Range are the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens
zoom of Mt Hood








There was one small snow field to cross on the High Skyline Trail. It was a bit icy this morning, I was glad I had my poles.

 Mt Rainier: there were lots of crevasses on the Nisqually Glacier.










On the trail looking down at Panorama Point and Paradise; across to the Tatoosh Range with Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens in the distance.










On the switchbacks descending from Panorama Point.

I choose to take the Glacier Vista and Deadhorse Creek Trails coming down as off shoots from the Skyline Trail. Here a marmot is posing in front of Mt Rainer.

 Looking back along the lower Skyline Trail.

There were lots of chipmunks and ground squirrels along the trail.

 Steps near the Visitor Center with John Muir quote at the other end of the Skyline Loop Trail.











Some of the wildflowers along the trail today:

 

Gobblers Knob

We drove up FSR 59 east of Ashford to the Glacier View Trailhead and hiked up to Goat Lake and Gobblers Knob an 8 mile rt hike with an overall elevation gain of 1,900 ft.

We hiked through a small meadow near the parking area before entering the forest. When we reached the T junction we went right (south) towards Beljica Meadows.

 The trail drops about 150 ft down to Beljica Meadows where we saw lots of wildflowers and had a nice view of Mount Beljica to the south.












There was lots of water and lots of bugs at Beljica Meadows.

After the meadows, the trail ascends a short ways and at 1 mile from the trailhead connects with the Lake Christine trail, we headed left/north on this trail. 

The trail descends about 300 ft on the 1-1/2 miles down to Goat Lake. We saw frogs, salamanders and fish jumping in the lake.

From Goat Lake, the trail continues to the west and after 1/2 mile enters Mt Rainier National Park. From Goat Lake to Gobblers Knob is another 1-1/2 miles with 1,200 ft of gain.

The trail is mostly forested (very nice on a hot summer day), but does go through a couple of open meadows.

After the trail crests on the south side of Gobblers Knob, watch for the trail signs after descending about 50 ft or so. The 0.4 mile spur trail to Gobblers Knob is on the left/north. Part way up we had a sneak peek of Mt Rainier.

Looking up at the fire lookout on Gobblers Knob, the trail continues around the west side of Gobblers Knob from here.

Mt Rainier from Gobblers Knob, the sky was a bit hazy from wildfires in British Columbia.

 Final bit of trail to the lookout on Gobblers Knob.












View through the window of the lookout

 view from the deck on the lookout to the east: Mt Rainier and Tahoma Creek.













below us to the southeast is Lake George













to the south is Mt Wow

 to the west is Goat Lake













another view of Mt Rainier hiking down from Gobblers Knob.

Besides mosquitos and flies, there were butterflies and moths.

Some of the wildflowers and other flora we saw along the hike today: