Mt Rainier Hiking

Yesterday, Terry and I decided to do some hiking at Mt Rainier National Park. We live close to the area and have been wanting to do more hiking so decided to go up there to take advantage of the great weather.

The first hike of the day we did Naches Peak Loop. It was 5.0 miles and took us exactly two hours to hike. We parked at Lake Tipoo and started the hike from the trailhead there. There was a small hill at the beginning of the hike but after that the hike was fairly level. I had read that the trail was popular and there was a chance of crowds, but luckily since we hit the trail early we didn't see that many people. The hike took us over highway 410 through fields of wildflowers. Once we were about half way through the trip, we were graced with great views of Mt Rainier. The morning light was amazing and we got lucky with the weather. When we arrived back at our car, we were surprised to see the parking lot full and tons of people milling around the lake. We were definitely glad we hit the trail early in the day and do plan on hiking it again in the future.

After the first hike, we decided to hit another trail since the day was still early. In the book I had, it described another trail in the Sunrise area that looped around the visitor center. It also described the trail as easy and 5.0 miles so we decided to try it out. The Sunrise Loop Trail started at the Sunrise Visitor Center went up to Frozen Lake, across to the First Burrough, down the back side of the Burrough to Sunrise camp then back to the visitor center. The hike was definitely harder than the first hike of the day with some steeper hills. There was one area that still had a snow patch that we had to navigate which was a little scary since one slip and it was a long way down a steep hill. The views of the mountain were amazing! It seemed like we were really close to it and I am sure the pictures don't do it justice. Coming back down the hill, Mt Rainier was to our back so we think if we did this hike again we would do it in the reverse direction to get the views in front of us going up the hill. There were more people on this trail then the first one but it still wasn't too bad. We hope to have decent weather in a few weeks and do this trail again with Jake and Brittany.