Return To Paradise

Hiking at Mt. Rainier last weekend was so amazing, I decided to go back again this weekend and check out some more of the trails.  This time I went up with my friend Laura.  On the way up, I told her that I wanted to see a bear....not too close, but close enough to get photos.  We arrived at the Paradise Visitor's Center just after 8:00 am and started getting our gear out of the car.  A couple came walking by and the man said, "You have a bear watching you..." and pointed up on the hill behind the Visitor's Center.  Sure enough, way up above us we could see him...a black bear wandering around near the Alta Vista Lookout, where I hiked to with Lauren last weekend.  I was all kinds of excited!!  We quickly grabbed the rest of our gear out of the car and headed up the Skyline Trail, on a quest to get close enough for me to get some photos of him, but not so close that we would become a mid-morning snack.

Seeing Mt. Rainier from the freeway in the city, I always thought it was amazing the way it just seemed to float above everything.  The first time I saw it from the Visitor's Center, I remember feeling like it was so close....I was just a kid at the time, and I didn't realize that at the Visitor's Center you are actually on the mountain. As we climbed the steps behind the Visitor's Center to the trailhead, I was taken back to the first time I had been to Paradise.  I was just as awestruck as an adult as I was all those years ago.  It is a beautiful mountain, and being able to see it up close is one of my favorite things about living in the Pacific Northwest.

As we started up the Skyline Trail, I told Laura about my trip up the previous weekend, and how I wanted to try conquering some of the more challenging trails, but that I wasn't sure if I was ready for them.  Always the optimist, she suggested we just take it slow and see how it went.  We looked at the map and decided we would take the Skyline Trail up towards Sluiskin Falls and turn around if the climb got too steep.

The weather was perfect and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitoes away.  The lupine was even more spectacular than it was last weekend and it smelled amazing!!

Looking down on the Visitors Center from high up on the Skyline Trail motivated me to keep going, and we managed to maintain a pretty steady pace.

Eventually we made it to the Stevens-Van Trump Historical Monument above Sluiskin Falls.  The memorial is a stone and concrete bench honoring the first two climbers to ascend Mt. Rainier in 1870.  The bench sits in the spot where Chief Sluiskin is said to have waited for the climbers to return from their climb.  This spot is about 2 miles from, and 500 feet above, the Paradise Visitors Center.  While sitting here, we met a very friendly man and his daughter. He has been hiking the trails at Mt. Rainier for years, and he enthusiastically offered us a history lesson.

We left the monument and continued upward.  The trail climbed gradually, but relentlessly.  I was determined to challenge myself but I took it slow and stopped as often as I needed to to catch my breath and take in the view.  At this elevation, the fields of wildflowers were replaced by rocks and snow, and at one point we had to scramble up a snow bank where the trail was still completely covered.

The mountain loomed above us, and I couldn't resist pulling out my zoom lens and getting some close-up shots of the huge glaciers.

The view is just incredible from up here.  It's hard to capture, even in a panoramic photo.

We climbed again briefly and arrived at the top of the Golden Gate Trail.  The elevation here is 6,400 feet.  We had climbed 4 miles and gained 1,000 feet in elevation.  I realized this is about the same as Rattlesnake Ledge in North Bend, which I have hiked a couple of times this summer, but for some reason, our hike on Mt. Rainier felt longer and steeper.  Maybe it had to do with the higher elevation, or the vastness of the landscape.

Not gonna lie...standing at this spot, at the top of a trail that had looked so daunting to me a week ago, was pretty awesome.

We were both pretty tired and had heard from a few people passing by that the snow made hiking any higher tricky without better gear, so we decided to head down the Golden Gate Trail rather than continue on the Skyline Trail.  The steep swithcbacks down through the basin made me glad that we had chosen a more gradual climb up.  Next summer, I would love to try hiking the same loop but in the opposite direction, climbing up the Golden Gate Trail and coming down the Skyline Trail.

We reached the bottom of the Golden Gate Trail pretty quickly and decided to head over to the Visitors Center, where Laura suggested insisted that we get our Junior Ranger Certifications.  This is an activity intended for kids visiting Mt. Rainier National Park, but we had a lot of fun filling out the activity books, and the Park Ranger who swore us in and presented us with our Certificates and Junior Ranger Badges was a good sport about it.

After being certified as Official Junior Rangers, we decided to check out the Nisqually Glacier trail, which is a very short and easy hike from the Visitors Center.

It was an amazing day of hiking and I am so glad that I decided to challenge myself...it was tough but so worth it!!  This is likely my last trip up to Mt. Rainier this summer...it is a full day and my schedule is pretty busy...but I look forward to coming back and exploring more of the trails next summer.

Oh, and about that bear...he managed to elude us all day, but we heard a few stories about him.  Maybe next summer I'll get my bear photo!!  :)

Hiking in Paradise

I have always loved Mt. Rainier.  Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, it was always cool to catch a glimpse of it on a clear day.  I have memories of going up to Paradise with my family as a kid, and especially of my grandmother's love for it.  Whenever she saw it, she would say, "There's my mountain..."  Any time I have ever flown into or out of SeaTac airport, I have always asked for a window seat so that I could watch for it as the plane climbed up above the clouds, and a couple of times, I've managed to get some pretty cool photos of it.

As a photographer, I have always wanted to go up to Mt. Rainier and photograph the wildflowers, but as a fat girl, venturing past the Visitors Center always seemed too daunting a task, so I have never attempted it.  But when I decided to take up hiking this summer, a day trip up to Paradise at the peak of wildflower season moved up to the top of my list of Things to Do.

Yesterday, I drove up to Mt. Rainier with my friend Lauren and hiked some of the trails at Paradise. Going up with my family as a kid, I just remember driving up to the Visitors Center, but I don't think we ever hiked any other trails...I had no idea there were so many to choose from, or that they allowed you to get to such high elevations!!

Because I'm a hiking noob and still pretty out-of-shape, we stuck to the "easy" trails.  We started on the Skyline Trail and stopped at the Myrtle Falls Viewpoint.

From there, we hiked up the Alta Vista Trail....

The view from the top of the Alta Vista Trail is really incredible.  Standing there looking out over the other trails, I found myself thinking, "Someday...someday I'll be able to hike the hard ones..."

After taking in the view for a bit, we made our way back down to the Visitors Center, had a bite to eat, and then drove to Refection Lake.

Feeling re-energized, we left Reflection Lake and drove a few miles to a small parking area at the bottom of the 4th Crossing Trail.  We climbed up to the Skyline Trail and then up to Mazama Ridge.  It was a challenging hike, but once we got to Mazama Ridge, the wildflowers were incredible!!

By the time we reached the top of Mazama Ridge, we were completely exhausted.  We were just about to turn around and head back down to the car when we saw a small side trail, so while I snapped a few photos, Lauren went to check it out and see where it led, and if it was worth hiking an extra few hundred feet.  A few seconds later, I heard her say, "Yep...totally worth it!!"  I walked out to where she was and found her standing on the trail, facing east.  It was a precarious spot...the drop off in front of us was very steep...but the view was spectacular!!

As we made our way back to the car, I can't describe how happy I felt.  It was so cool to be able to hike at Mt. Rainier and photograph the wildflowers.  It was something I had wanted to do for so long.

Heading out of the park, we made one last stop and took a short hike down to see Narada Falls.

It was an awesome day.  Not gonna lie...even though we chose "easy" to "moderate" trails, it was TOUGH.  It kicked...my...butt!!  There is no way I could have done it a year ago or even a few months ago.  But the fact that I was able to accomplish it this weekend made me realize how quickly my body is adapting to the changes I'm making.  It motivates me to keep working towards my fitness goals, so that I can go back up and hike some of the more challenging trails.

Hiking The Twin Falls Trail

Pasta and I have a new pastime....hiking!!  :)

I was really feeling like it was time to challenge myself a little bit....I've been exercising for six weeks, and I can tell that my cardio endurance has improved.  I asked my friend Gigi, who is an avid hiker, if she could recommend a good beginner-level hike....something that would give me a good workout, but no so much so that it felt like some sort of masochistic torture.  She suggested Twin Falls Trail in North Bend.

Not gonna lie.  This hike kicked my butt.  It's rated easy, but for someone who has only hiked a handful of times in her life, it didn't feel easy to me. It felt like a workout.


The first 1/2-mile of the trail runs along the shore of the South Fork Snoqualmie River. This portion of the hike is the easy part....it's relatively flat with a few little ups and downs, but nothing strenuous.

It is a quintessential Pacific Northwest hike....moss-laden trees, fern-covered forest floors, in every shade of green you can imagine.

As the trail moves away from the shore of the river, it climbs up a series of long switchbacks.  This is where it started to kick my butt.  We were walking at a decent pace, and about halfway up the first switchback, I had to stop to catch my breath.  As I looked ahead, and saw the gradual climb, I knew I was in for a challenge.

At about the 1-mile mark, a short jaunt to the right down a series of stairs leads to a platform overlooking the Lower Falls, which plummet 150 feet to the Snoqualmie River.

Back on the main trail, you climb another 1/4 mile to an elaborate staircase leading down to a large footbridge that takes you over the river gorge, directly between two of the stairstep falls.  From the bridge, you get a stunning view of the Upper Falls and the Snoqualmie River below.

 

 

 

This is where most people turn around and head back down to the trailhead, but Pasta and I kept hiking upwards, and within a few minutes we were looking down on the bridge and the Lower Falls.

We hiked another mile or so to the top of the trail, where it intersects with the John Wayne Trail, stopping often along the way to catch our breath and take pictures.

Along the upper part of the trail, we saw a a ton of little red berries (huckleberries, maybe?) and some pretty wildflowers.

We walked about 1/2 mile on the John Wayne Trail, then turned around and headed back.

This is a very popular trail!!  When we arrived at the trailhead around 8:30 am, there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, and we saw very few people on the way up.  Coming down, we saw hundreds of people.  The trail is narrow and therefore can't easily accommodate large groups of people.  Several times we had to stop completely due to "traffic jams" as the droves of people tried to pass each other on the trail.  I couldn't believe how crowded it was. It was kind of ridiculous, and after awhile it started to get pretty frustrating.  I was hot and sweaty and tired, and so ready to get back to the car.  By the time we reached the trailhead, we had been hiking for almost four hours (which included lots of stops to catch my breath and take pictures.)  We had gone just over 4 miles roundtrip and had endured an elevation gain of about 900 feet.  I was completely exhausted, but really proud of myself.  There's no way I would have even attempted this hike two months ago, so accomplishing it was a good milestone for me.

I enjoyed it so much that we went back again this weekend.  I called my friend Kelly and invited her to come with us.  I took it slower this time and it didn't feel nearly as strenuous.  We didn't go all the way to the top....we just went as far as the bridge and then headed back down.

When we got back to the bottom, Pasta entertained us for a while by swimming out into the Snoqulamie River to fetch sticks.

I really enjoy this hike a lot, and will definitely do it again, but only if I can go very early to beat the crowds.  It just isn't as fun when there are hundreds of people on the trail.  But I am officially a fan of hiking, and I'm looking forward to checking out some of the other trails in the area over the next couple of months.