Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Alright, I'm nearing the end of my blog backlog from our trip to the Pacific Northwest 15 days ago. After posting four blogs just about Comet Falls— it really was worth it with the size of the big falls plus so many smaller falls along the trail— I believe I've got just two blogs left, for two other falls we visited before heading home that Sunday.

After Comet Falls we visited Christine Falls. These are a set of falls on the same creek, but down by the road. The canyon is very narrow here so the trail can't traverse it.



This view of Christine Falls, above, is from the road bridge over the creek. I'm standing at the stone wall along the narrow road. There's barely even a pedestrian lane here. Fortunately it's on a tight bend in the road so traffic is already going slowly.

A little further up the road, next to the small parking lot, is a trail leading down the other side. It leads to a viewing spot from which you can see the lower tier of Christine Falls.



I've framed this photo (above) to show the bridge crossing over the narrow canyon.

This is our second time at Christine Falls. We visited these same viewpoints on a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park in July 2017. Comparing the photos from then and now, I think I like the ones from then a little better. As I recall it was partly cloudy the day we visited in 2017, creating flatter light that made it easier to photograph in this narrow canyon. Strong light, like we had during our recent visit, creates harsh contrasts that are harder to compensate for.

After a hike that was up, up, up but also full of waterfalls we reached the main falls, Comet Falls. Finally!



Comet Falls is over 300' high, the tallest waterfall in Washington. While the other falls we passed on the way up here felt very... Cascades-ish... Comet Falls is downright Yosemite-like.

The view above is from the point on the trail where we got the first good view of Comet Falls. It's zoomed in a bit, and you can see there's a fair bit of distance closer we can get. In fact you can see some people standing a lot closer on the hill in front of the bottom of the main tier. We'd go there next....



...But first, flowers! Always stop to smell the daisies. Well, not smell them, because allergies. 😂 But stop to appreciate the beauty in which we walk.



As we got a bit closer there was a nice log next to the trail to sit on for pictures. I swapped cameras with another couple who arrived just ahead of us to get this photo.

There's more to come... we can get a lot closer to the falls!

Update: Good news, bad news, good news as we get closer.

We began Day 3 of our 3-day trip to the Washington Cascade mountains— which was, gosh, almost 2 weeks ago now!— by hiking Comet Falls in Mt. Rainier National Park. The trail promised a 3.8 mile round trip trek with an elevation gain of 900'. That would be a good "main event" hike for the day; we'd combine it with a few other falls that were either drive-to or involved short hikes.

The Comet Falls trail was busy. The parking lot was overflowing when we arrived around 9:45am. That may not sound like we got an early start on the day, but we did. We checked out of our hotel and were driving by 8am. The remainder of the time is how long it took to get there. (Remember, closer lodgings were booked full when we planned this last-minute trip.) Anyway, the lot was overflowing. We parked along the side of the narrow road, our rental car seemingly only 12 inches from sliding down the side of a mountain.



Right away the trail climbed up steep switchbacks from the parking lot. Soon it crossed over the stream canyon and "Up, up, up" became "Falls, falls, falls". Okay, it was still unforgivingly up-up-up, but we minded it less once the sound of cars driving on the road below was drowned out by the sound of water crashing over falls in the canyon.

BTW these are not Comet Falls. Later in the day we'd see some hiking groups who got this far and called it done. And to be fair, these falls are way better than some I've hiked miles to see. But Comet Falls is so impressive it puts these to shame.



But hey, just because Comet Falls is super awesome doesn't mean these falls along the way aren't worth appreciating. I mean, we had to stop regularly to catch our breath on the steep trail anyway. That's a good reminder to slow down and appreciate the beauty in which we walk.

Still not Comet Falls, BTW. I dubbed this one (above) "Barely There Falls".



As steep as the climb was, it makes sense that there are waterfalls the whole way up. I mean, up on the way in means down on the way out, and down means water's gonna fall.

Still not Comet Falls, BTW. The big one's still a ways up. But for now... In beauty I walk.

Update: Keep reading in Hiking to Comet Falls, part 2.

As much as Friday a week ago was a packed day of hiking in Washington with 4 hikes, Saturday was no slouch. By the time we shouldered our packs to start hiking to Martha Falls in Mt. Rainier National Park it was already our fourth hike of the day, in addition to one or two hop-out-for-pictures places and at least two more hop-outs to come afterwards.

The Stevens Canyon pictures I posted in my previous blog were not just a matter of "Oh, look, Stevens Canyon." They were from near where we parked to hike Martha Falls. Martha Falls is another find in Professor Smedley Q. Boredom's Very Dull Book of Waterfalls— so it was par for the course that we had to drive back and forth several times before finding the trailhead. Ultimately it was unmarked where the trail crossed the road, and the nearest parking was a small, unmarked pullout 50m up the road.



Difficulty finding the trail crossing notwithstanding, the trail itself was beautiful. From the road it ducked immediately into dense forest. Mature trees towered overhead and the air smelled of firs. There were even patches of wildflowers in places where the big trees' canopies parted enough to let rays of sunshine reach ground level.



The trail itself, appropriately named the Wonderland Trail, was beautiful. The only problem was that it was down. Down, down, down.

What's wrong with down? It means that the return trip is up. Up, up, up, when we're more tired. And since this trail was from Smedley's book, there wasn't guidance on how much down/up we faced.

We grew concerned as we dropped seemingly 300', 400', 500'... where was Martha Falls? Would it be another Smedley wild goose chase? Hikers coming up the trail assured us that the falls was not much further. Indeed, as we rounded a bend we heard the crashing of water. But it was at least another 100' down into the canyon!



So, yes, Martha Falls is real. It's a 50' drop over a rock face with many small ledges. And it's not too far in from the road. Maybe a mile each way? Though it is a climb on the way out, probably about 600'. But the falls is worth the trek.

One of several hikes we did a week ago Saturday at Mt. Rainier National Park was Cougar Falls. Cougar Falls isn't marked on the park map. We found it in Professor Smedley Q. Boredom's Very Dull Book of Waterfalls— which means there was at best a 50-50 chance of actually finding the falls. It would be less a hike to Cougar Falls and more a hunt for Cougar Falls.

Indeed that's what it was. First we searched around at the road bridge across Nickel Creek for the trail down. One led down to a dead-end spot at the base of the bridge. One on the other side of the creek was very overgrown and led down steeply to a flat spot on the other side. Then behind a waist-high fence a spotted a second trail on the near side. It seemed like it had the best chance of taking us further downstream, so we climbed the fence and headed out on that trail.



After a short bit of bushwhacking we picked our way out onto a small rocky cliff over Nickel Creek. There's a nice view here with a cascade that pours into a perfect little rocky swimming hole. The water's so clear you can see the whole bottom. We ddin't jump in, though, because this water is cold. It's not straight off a glacier— if it were it would be cloudy— but it is from snow melt.

This is not Cougar Falls, BTW. Dr. Smedley says Cougar Falls is, like, 40' tall, and this 15'. Looking for one falls and finding another instead is also kind of typical for Smedley's book.

After sitting here for a bit and enjoying the view we went back to bushwhacking further downstream. Just below this point the rocks give way to a huge dropoff. We had to backtrack up these falls and loop around. We did find Cougar Falls; it's at that big dropoff. But from this side of the creek it's mostly obscured by trees. It looked like if we'd gone down the opposite side of the creek we might've had a clear vantage point. Oh, well, we didn't care enough to go all the way back up to try again. There were still other trails we wanted to hike before the day was done.

In beauty we walk.

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.

439 steps. That's the answer to the question you might have asked in my previous post, looking up at the staircase ascending Windy Ridge. There are 439 steps in the staircase. I was concerned for a bit it might be like climbing the Koko Head Tramline in Hawaii, which left me wrecked for several days, but it was way easier. Partly that's because I set a deliberate pace of stopping every 25 stairs for a short rest. Plus, that made it easier to keep count of the steps. 😅



Stopping every 25 steps also made it easier to appreciate the views around me. As I ascended the views of Mount St. Helens just kept getting better. BTW, the clouds in the crater are steam rising from volcanic activity. This volcano is not dormant, it's just... resting.



Also as I ascended, other volcanoes came into view. Looking east over the flank of Windy Ridge I could see Mt. Adams, a 12,280' stratovolcano. It looks like it's nearby... it's actually 35 miles distant.

Yes, there are a  lot of volcanoes in the area. We're in the Cascade Range, which is volcanic. It's part of the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean.



Speaking of other volcanoes, Mt. Rainier makes an appearance from atop Windy Ridge, too. It's a 14,410' stratovolcano. From here it's 50 miles away.

"What's at the back end of that lake?" you might ask. "Is it a beach?" First, that's Spirit Lake. Second, it's not a beach, it's actually a huge spread of dead trees floating in the water.

When Mount St. Helens exploded in 1980 it unleashed a torrent of rocks and hot gases that swept at speeds of several hundred miles per hour across the ground. The blast flattened everything in its path at least 8 miles out. The blast swept down the northern flank of the mount, across Spirit Lake, and up the ridge on the far side. That ridge was forested with huge fir trees. They were shaved from the ground like hair under a razor. What's left of them floats at the north end of the lake as a debris floe.



Soon enough it was time to head back. 439 steps down!

Oh, and in the distance to the south I saw one more volcano, making this a four-volcano viewpoint. I wasn't sure which mountain it was because I didn't have a big enough map handy. It turns out it was 11,249' Mt. Hood, in Oregon, roughly 60 miles away. Yes, I definitely needed a bigger map for that!

Pacific 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:

• 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