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Ring Around Rainier
Aug. 6th, 2022 10:43 pmPacific Northwest August Travelog #3
Puyallup, WA - Sat, 6 Aug 2022, 10:30pm
Today I'll continue yesterday's approach of writing just a summary of the day's activities instead of writing detailed entries in chronological sequence and them getting backlogged on edits and photos. I guess I can sum up today's activities as "Ring around Rainier" because we basically drove a big loop around 14,000'+ Mt. Rainier, stopping at several places in the national park for hiking.
This morning we got out of bed around 7:30am, a much better time than yesterday's late-to-bed-late-to-rise. We rolled from the hotel before 8:30 and made quick stops for gas and breakfast before hitting the road for real.
From Puyallup we headed east, driving basically a big counter-clockwise loop around the mountain. Our first stop was at the Silver Falls trailhead just inside the southeastern corner of the park. We hiked toward what we thought was going to be an amazing 50' high falls pouring into a bowl of volcanic rock. Instead what we found was that plus a series of smaller falls above it in a canyon of volcanic rock, with several short spur trails down to the water's edge. As a result we spend almost 3 hours on a trek we thought would take 90 minutes.
After Silver Falls we drove further west into the park. We visited Box Canyon and hiked about 1/2 mile there. The eponymous canyon is up to 180 feet deep and as narrow as 13 feet. Then we backtracked slight to hunt the elusive Cougar Falls. We did find it, on or second or third try (depending on how you count them), though it was still somewhat hidden behind a few trees. Then we hiked to Martha Falls, which was way more effort than our guidebook led us to believe but was still worth it. Even so, by the time we finished that trail at 4pm or so we were spent for the day. We made one more photography/gentle hiking stop at Reflection Lakes, taking pictures of Rainier, then finished up with a worthless visit to the visitor's center, spending about as much time in traffic jams in the parking lot as we did inside the building.
At 5:30pm we decided it was time to head home and get dinner— and not necessarily in that order. It was a while before we had reliable cell service, though, to figure out where to get dinner. As we reached the far-flung suburbs of Tacoma we got signal and picked a well rated Mexican restaurant. Then we drove another several miles and got Dairy Queen for dessert. Then we stopped at HomeGoods and TJ Maxx stores for Hawk, then back to the hotel. We rolled in around 9pm, which was way better than last night's 10:40pm.
Keep reading: Sunday is another busy hiking & driving day at Mt. Rainier.
Updates: I've posted blogs with pictures from our hikes. Yes, seven blogs! Be sure to read:
Puyallup, WA - Sat, 6 Aug 2022, 10:30pm
Today I'll continue yesterday's approach of writing just a summary of the day's activities instead of writing detailed entries in chronological sequence and them getting backlogged on edits and photos. I guess I can sum up today's activities as "Ring around Rainier" because we basically drove a big loop around 14,000'+ Mt. Rainier, stopping at several places in the national park for hiking.
This morning we got out of bed around 7:30am, a much better time than yesterday's late-to-bed-late-to-rise. We rolled from the hotel before 8:30 and made quick stops for gas and breakfast before hitting the road for real.
From Puyallup we headed east, driving basically a big counter-clockwise loop around the mountain. Our first stop was at the Silver Falls trailhead just inside the southeastern corner of the park. We hiked toward what we thought was going to be an amazing 50' high falls pouring into a bowl of volcanic rock. Instead what we found was that plus a series of smaller falls above it in a canyon of volcanic rock, with several short spur trails down to the water's edge. As a result we spend almost 3 hours on a trek we thought would take 90 minutes.
After Silver Falls we drove further west into the park. We visited Box Canyon and hiked about 1/2 mile there. The eponymous canyon is up to 180 feet deep and as narrow as 13 feet. Then we backtracked slight to hunt the elusive Cougar Falls. We did find it, on or second or third try (depending on how you count them), though it was still somewhat hidden behind a few trees. Then we hiked to Martha Falls, which was way more effort than our guidebook led us to believe but was still worth it. Even so, by the time we finished that trail at 4pm or so we were spent for the day. We made one more photography/gentle hiking stop at Reflection Lakes, taking pictures of Rainier, then finished up with a worthless visit to the visitor's center, spending about as much time in traffic jams in the parking lot as we did inside the building.
At 5:30pm we decided it was time to head home and get dinner— and not necessarily in that order. It was a while before we had reliable cell service, though, to figure out where to get dinner. As we reached the far-flung suburbs of Tacoma we got signal and picked a well rated Mexican restaurant. Then we drove another several miles and got Dairy Queen for dessert. Then we stopped at HomeGoods and TJ Maxx stores for Hawk, then back to the hotel. We rolled in around 9pm, which was way better than last night's 10:40pm.
Keep reading: Sunday is another busy hiking & driving day at Mt. Rainier.
Updates: I've posted blogs with pictures from our hikes. Yes, seven blogs! Be sure to read:
- On the Trail to Silver Falls
- On the Rocks at Silver Falls
- Box Canyon
- Stalking the Elusive Cougar Falls
- 3 Lenses, 3 Views: Stevens Canyon
- Hiking Martha Falls
- Reflections at Mt. Rainier
