What a great way to spend an August day, but hiking up to a serene and solice lake! The weather, trail, and traffic were fabulous in the earlier morning start during the week. Many gorgeous view from Hemlock pass, the falls at 1.5 mi, and just a wonderful, diversity in terrain. My first attempt was about 2 weeks ago during …
Paradise! While visiting Seattle from the east-coast I took the advice of several outdoorsy friends and headed down to Rainier early on the morning of 30 July. Let me wax pretentiously pseudo-lyrical, if you'll bear with me.... Driving in the wee hours of the morning through the foggy gloom my mood was subdued. But once inside the Park boundaries as …
Hiked Wed 8/3/05: I must thank the scorching sun for frying the mosquitos...there were none! Some biting horseflys but breezes kept them mostly at bay. Gorgous wooded walk to the lake. Few people on this trail, probably due to the fact that wildflowers are spectacular this year in Spray Park. Lovely to have such wilderness in my backyard - Leslie …
Hiked Snow Lake/Gem Lake on a hot, summer day a year ago. It was very crowded and noisy, lots of families and groups, we even saw a group trying to haul a packed ice cooler as we were heading out!--I wonder how that worked out for them, as that awkward box of plastic could not have been fun to carry--But …
In all frankness, Annette Lake wont be THE Alpine lake of your life, but it's still a pretty nice place to sit on your haunches and enjoy the peace lapping of water. We hiked this early July and the weather that day was especially sunny with a nice cool breeze. Weather will make or break this hike and views, try …
We ventured to Lake Serene the last weekend in July, early in the afternoon. It wasn't overly busy, but there were a steady trickle. The trail starts out relatively easy, wide and winding through lush greenery for about a mile and a half. But once the 23 switchbacks start, watch out! It is 2 miles of rocky uphill and wooded …
There was something new and exciting around every corner on this hike. Beautiful rivers, grandious views of mountains and glaciers, green rolling hills and meadows filled with a myriad of wild flowers (this is probably only in late Summer, hence the name Summerland). The marmots and birds were quite enjoyable but when my girlfriend walked up to bear about 10 …
I thought this was a great hike, did last September. It is a bit steep, but it is mostly shaded by forest. A wonderful day trip from Seattle, and not crowded at all.
We took this hike 7/30/2005. This was the third time and I'm never disappointed. The views are spectacular, the flower fields this year are the best I've seen yet. The marmots were out in abundance at Summerland and we saw a bear about 30 minutes from the trailhead (on our way out). He wasn't afraid of us but paid us …
Excellent hike, but don't forget the bug spray! There were horseflies landing on us every time we stopped for a second (and they do bite after all). Dozens of them all over us if we stood still. They thinned out a lot once you gained some altitude, though. And the views were worthwhile.
On a clear day, you can see forever, and yesterday was a clear day. This was easily the prettiest hike I've done this year, and one of the most enjoyable. Mowach Lake was exceptionally clear and blue, lots of wildflowers were in bloom, and the forrest was lovely. I took my time to enjoy the scenery, so hiking time was …
This hike was fun. It gets a bit steep at the end on the switch backs but then it pays off due to the downhill hike to the lake on the very last portion of it. This was our first hike and it was a good day. Harder than expected, more bugs than expected. Fun in the end.
We really enjoyed this hike. As with most people, we started at Mowich. We would have liked to have started earlier in the day it took 1.5 hours driving from Orting to get to Mowich. We arrived at 10AM and the parking lot was filled. We were fortunate to find a parking spot at the trail head. The trail seemed …
Today there was no mud but very dusty. Do bring bug juice and lots of water. Great hike but not for the average day hiker.
This hike was pleasant and mostly as described. It took us 2 ½ hours to walk in, and 2 hours to walk out. The 1500 foot elevation gain seemed like twice that, and most of it was like a 4 mile 2 hour session on a Stairmaster. It seemed to go up forever. We encountered about 20 groups of hikers …
We just finished the Pratt lake Trail starting from the Granite Mountain trailhead - too bad we didn't read this first we would have loved to hike the loop trail, but didn't realize it was available. We brought our friend who had never backpacked before because it was a 2 out of 5 in a very famous backpacking book. Personally …
Positives: Beautiful lake and close to Seattle. Negatives: Lots of bugs, lots, bring bug spray, it isn't until the night when they go away and you can relax. Also the toilet is way nasty, needs to be cleaned, 99% of port-a-potty's are cleaner than this.
We loved every aspect of this hike. We did it on the last Saturday in July. The weather was perfect, a blue sky without a cloud. As expected there were quite a few people on the trail, but not to the extend that it bothered us. The trail itself is in really good condition: kudos and 'Thanks' to the trail …
Upper Crystal Lake is one of the most beautiful places I've been. The July wildflowers are stunning--there are so many different kinds. I did this hike with eight kids (ages 5 through 17). They loved it. My nephew actually did most of it barefoot. We swam in the lake and were greeted by a friendly deer. It was a hot …
Just got back from 3 days of day hiking on various trails around Mt. Rainier and the Freemont Trail, at 5:38 am, is the most beautiful sight! We left the Sunrise parking lot with our headlamps on (although it really wasn't that dark) and did a rather fast hike up to the lookout. The red morning sun was just beginning …
Hiked Granite last night - I've hiked Mt. Si a number of times after hours, but Granite is well worth the extra miles down the road and extra effort to get to the top. The sunset views were stunning. I was too late for the meadows to be in full bloom, but still a rewarding hike. If you're heading out …
This is a great hike. We started at Mowich Lake, which was gorgeous already. The water almost looks cleaner than crystal you wish you could just dive in. The hike was pretty moderate. With so much to see along the way we pretty much forget to rest. The view of Mt Rainier with Eunice Lake in front is worth a …
This was my second hike and I could do it easily Its a pretty easy hike. Its a bit long , but the views are great. Recommended. One tip start early.
I did this hike a couple of weeks ago, and it was great! This hike has a little of everything- views, streams, an alpine lake, wildflowers, and forest. The bugs were pretty bad around Berkely Park, but even that didn't detract from my enjoyment. I started out from Sunrise in the morning, climbing up past frozen lake before descending towards …
I went this past Sunday, and I found it hard to believe it was only a little more than 4 miles to the lookout. The trail had a lot of rocks to navigate around, but it wasn't terrible. Trekking poles were definately a help, especially for the trip back down. The trail was only muddy in a couple of places, …