The Pacific Northwest is one of the most magical places. It is where the mountains and ocean join together to create the ultimate adventure playground. Mt. Rainier National Park is hands-down on my favorite national parks list, and we only spent a day there! There is so much to do and see, you could spend so much time exploring or attempt to summit Mt. Rainier itself! We went to Seattle to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and decided Mt. Rainier was the perfect place to go explore for a day. However, there are some crucial mistakes we made. I want to help you avoid them so you can get the most out of this amazing place!
What to Avoid Doing:
It is further from Seattle then you think. When I was researching what we wanted to do on our trip it seemed like lots of people took time to go and hike in Mt. Rainier. It is on all the travel brochures and you even see Mt. Rainier in the background of Seattle photos. This gave me the impression it was a quick hour drive away, not the case. We originally planned on hiking Tolmie Peak. It looked so fun, on the hike you pass a few lakes, and summit with a fire lookout that gives you a gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier. I should have googled the trailhead location because it was 2 hours from Seattle. While this isn't a huge deal we got a late start and with the hike being 7 miles round trip that wouldn't give us much time. Moral of the story, google the trailhead locations and plan to leave earlier than you think!
What we would have hiked if we had more time:
Even though we were on our way and things fell apart we still had lots of hikes to choose from. That morning we woke-up and decided that Tolmie Peak might be a little much for us. We didn't want to wear ourselves out the first day of our trip. I started looking up other hikes that are must-do's and here is the list I came up with: Comet Falls is an amazing waterfall, but the hike is straight up with 1,300 feet elevation gain in a 3.8 mile out and back trail. We opted out of that one, especially if we weren't going to do Tolmie Peak. Reflection Lakes Loop can be done as a quick pit-stop or a hike. It is one of the best places to photograph Mt. Rainier on a clear day, or you can do the 3 mile looped hike. Navada Falls is another quick pit-stop location to view a waterfall without having to hike straight up. The Sourdough Ridge Trail is a short 1.3 mile out and back trail that gives you a taste of what the trail to summit Mt. Rainier would be like. All of these were hikes we would have really loved to do. But we ended up hitting 3 other locations in the park.
What we Explored:
First we drove the Chinook Pass through the park. Right as you enter the park you hit a viewing area to gaze at Mt. Rainier in all its glory. It was magnificent and I can't even tell you how long I sat and starred at it. Next, we drive up to Tipso Lake. This is a very small lake, I wasn't too impressed, however, the drive there was crazy fun because as you head higher into the mountains you get engulfed in the fog. It was an eerie feeling to drive through the clouds. Next we hiked the Grove of the Patriarchs, which takes you along the Ohanapecosh River through cedar and Douglas fir trees on a 1.3 mile loop trail. It has a similar feeling to the redwoods with thousand year old trees. My favorite part of this trail was the small suspension bridge. This trail is very accessible and there were people of all ages and abilities on the trail.
The last hike we did was Snow Lake, which is a 2.5 mile out and back trail. It was a beautiful blue lake in a glacier valley. The hike takes you through meadows and was so beautiful in the fall with all of the changing leaves popping against the green trees. The perfect way to experience the PNW. I would highly recommend this hike. It doesn't take a ton of time and the drive to reach the trailhead is glorious. You can see multiple waterfalls as you drive and look out over the endless pine tree forrest. Mt. Rainier is a place I would definitely go back and explore more. I would stay in a town closer to the park like Enumclaw. We stopped and ate at Rainier Bar & Grill. It is typical bar food but after a day of hiking there is nothing better than a cold beer and some good 'ol fried food.
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