On the Trail to Silver Falls

Saturday a week ago we were at Mt. Rainier National Park. We had mapped out several waterfalls trails we wanted to hike. These were revenge travel for hikes we were unable to take on a visit five years ago. First up: Silver Falls.

Good news/bad news about Silver Falls: it's on the far opposite side of the park from where we were staying in Puyallup, WA. (We'd wanted to stay in one of the small mountain towns near this part of the park but they were all booked solid when this travel opportunity materialized just days in advance.) So the bad news is it was a 90 minute to 2 hour long drive.

The good news was that it was a scenic drive. Given the choice of two routes there (the map included here should show them) we looped counterclockwise around the east side of park in the morning, knowing we'd continue counterclockwise through the park during the day and drive home around the west side in the evening.

We entered the park through the Stevens Canyon gate on the southeast side. The trail to the falls crossed the road just 1/4 mile past the entrance gate. We parked in a pullout, laced up our boots, shouldered our packs, and headed out on foot.



The trail plunged immediately into deep forest. Good news! But it also dropped steadily from the road crossing. Bad news! Downhill on the way in means uphill on the way out. Fortunately the trail level off after a bit. Then it hit its first creek crossing.



Uh... this dry stream bed is not a good sign for visiting waterfalls! Fortunately, Silver Falls is not fed primarily by this creek, it's on the Ohanapecosh River, which is fed primarily by glaciers on Mt. Rainier. And all it takes is a look skyward to see that the glaciers are still there and pouring down water in the summer melt.



The next side-creek crossing was a bit more promising. There's flow here. This little falls is absolutely not Silver Falls. This little cascade is only about 5' high. Silver Falls is... a lot bigger. And as we rounded the bend beyond this little canyon we could hear the roar of the water from the main canyon.

To be continued....

On the Rocks at Silver Falls

A week ago Saturday we hiked Silver Falls at Mt. Rainier National Park. After a pleasant start crossing through the forest the trail broke out on the edge of canyon above the Ohanapecosh River. Numerous little side trails darted down the canyon sides to overlooks closer to the river. We considered visiting them but decided to hold off until we'd seen the main falls first. Then we'd decide which side trails to visit on the way back.



There was one side trail we went down before reaching the turnaround point on the trail, a bridge over the canyon below the falls, and I'm glad we did. This perch on the wet rocks just opposite Silver Falls (photo above) provides the nicest view IMO. Plenty of hikers lined the switchbacks above the bridge a bit further downstream shooting pictures of the falls. Their longer-distance vantage point wasn't as nice as this. I know, because we tried it, too, before coming back. 😅



Once we made our turnaround above the ridge we climbed back out onto the rocks along the river's bank. We found that a spry enough person doesn't have to go down lots of the side trails individually; she can just scramble and rock-hop from one to the next to the next. Even if having to scramble and rock-hop with a cane in hand.



In planning for Saturday we had prepped for this to be a 3 mile trail with several hundred feet of ascent. From the trailhead we began at it was about half that. Nevermind; we put the extra time and energy we allocated to it to good use climbing and sitting on the rocks. We returned to the trailhead about 2 hours after we left, satisfied with this trail and ready to begin the next.

In beauty I walk.

Easy Weekend at Home

This has been a weekend of Taking It Easy. That follows my alternating pattern of "The days are just packed". Last weekend before was quite a busy one with our 3-day driving/hiking trip in Washington. I know it seems like just this morning we hiked Silver Falls but that's because I wrote about it this morning. I'm already 8 days backlogged on blogging about that trip and expect to be 11 days behind by the time I finish. (I'm expecting to wrap it up Thursday, at this point.) And actually the alternating pattern is a 2 on/1 off thing here, because the weekend before Washington was my work-through-the-weekend thing staffing a trade show.

So, what have I done this weekend? Very little— and that's the plan! Saturday morning I lazed around before going out for lunch. We had friends over in the afternoon and swam in the pool together. Saturday evening we went out to eat again, feeling too lazy to cook, and took it easy back at home again afterwards. Sunday was lather-rinse-repeat, minus the friends (we still swam in the pool, just on our own) and plus some shopping.

What's on tap for next weekend? Well, like the pattern predicts, it's going to be a busy one. I'm helping a friend drive a new car from Las Vegas back to San Francisco! I'm not going to get into the details on that now... just writing about it feels too much like work.

For now I'm wrapping up a weekend of taking it easy by... taking it easy with a glass of vodka-rocks with a twist in hand. 🍸 Cheers!