canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
Whew. Sixteen days later, here I am: caught up on my blog backlog from visiting Mount St. Helens and Mt. Rainier earlier this month. There's just one chapter to insert in the story. Fortunately it's a lovely one, Narada Falls.

Narada Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

Narada Falls, a wide falls over a broad rock face with a drop of about 100', was our third and final trek of the day that Sunday. Like Christine Falls, which we'd hiked just minutes earlier, it was a short hike compared to Comet Falls. But unlike Christine Falls it wasn't merely steps from the parking lot. No, it was a good 1/4 mile! With a climb on the way back! We were tired from the long trek to Comet Falls so these distances felt tougher than normal.

Also like Christine Falls, we visited Narada Falls on a previous trip to Mt. Rainier 5 years ago. Take a look there to compare the photo I selected 5 years ago vs. the one above. While I liked my 5-years-ago photos of Christine Falls better than my recent ones (mostly because of softer natural light) I like this recent view of Narada Falls better than what I captured before. The difference here is that I now own neutral-density filters for my lenses that enable me to make these pictures with silky, motion-blurred water even in bright sunlight. All I have to do now is remember to carry the extra gear on every hike.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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.

Christine Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

Christine Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
Let's see, where was I? Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... Yes, Comet Falls!

"LOLWUT?" you might be thinking. "You found a huge waterfalls while driving an EV 500+ miles across the desert?"

LOL no, not yesterday Sunday; Sunday three Sundays ago. When we took a 3-day weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest. Yes, I'm still clearing my blog backlog with stuff from 15 days ago. (The backlog is actually way more than that counting the hikes from late June I still haven't written in detail about. 😨)

Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

Just seeing Comet Falls from 1/4 mile away wasn't enough, especially after hiking a steep trail to get there despite passing so many smaller falls along the way. Nope, I had to get close enough to the falls that I was getting wet. ...Though in this case I don't mean going under the falls. This waterfall is a 300' drop; going under would be very dangerous. Just standing back as far as in the photo above I was getting wet with spray.

The photo above wasn't just the border of where I started getting wet with spray. It was also as close as I could get and still capture the entire main tier of the falls with my camera lens. (It's a 15mm focal length on an APS-C size sensor, BTW.) Capturing a photo closer required using my super-wide lens... which failed to work again. Aughh!!!

Sadly, just like at Covel Falls two days earlier, my camera flashed an error message when I tried attaching the wide lens. Again, like then, I tried detaching and reattaching the lens, powering off and on the camera multiple times, and brushing clean the electronic contacts on the lens and camera mount with a cloth. Nothing worked.

Dejected, I picked my way back down the narrow footpath to the main trail where Hawk was waiting. "This lens is busted again," I told her. "The first time I need it in two days after carrying it on every hike, and now, here, it breaks," I vented. "I'm thinking of just dropping it over a cliff again."

"Why not try it one more time?" she asked.

I gritted my teeth because I already had tried it, like, ten more times already. But I gave it one more go. Surprise, the damn thing worked!

With a frustrated grumble I turned around and picked my way back up the narrow footpath to the slippery vantage point overlooking the falls.

Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

Boom!


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
After a hike that was up, up, up but also full of waterfalls we reached the main falls, Comet Falls. Finally!

Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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....

Wildflowers near Comet Falls (Aug 2022)

...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.

Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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!

UpdateGood news, bad news, good news as we get closer.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
In my previous blog I wrote about the trail to Comet Falls. There's good news and bad news. Bad news: it goes up, up, up. Good news: there are so many waterfalls along the way. Those made great places to pause for rests. What's the saying... "In beauty I stop to catch my breath"? Yeah, something like that.

When I say the trail is up, up, up, I mean stuff like this:

Up, up, up on the way to Comet Falls (Aug 2022)

Okay, this was one of the hairier parts of the trail. Most of the trail was only half as steep. Though seldom were there steps.

Oh, but there were more waterfalls. So many more waterfalls.

Getting close... but still not Comet Falls! (Aug 2022)

We knew we were getting close when we reached this falls. We knew we were close because we were pacing ourselves. We figured we were about 90% of the way there, both in distance and elevation gain. The view I found for this picture (above) was a smidge off the trail. This is a side falls in the canyon that pours into the main creek.

Above those side falls are more side falls!

So many people think this is Comet Falls that there's a sign saying, basically, "NOT Comet Falls" (Aug 2022)

This trio of waterfalls apparently fools so many people that there's a sign next to the trail that says, basically, "NOT Comet Falls". We didn't need that sign because we'd seen a picture of Comet Falls on the cover of a calendar for sale in the visitors center the day before. As impressive as this triple falls is, Comet Falls is much.... impressive-r. And per the "NOT Comet Falls" sign it was supposedly only another 200m away.

Update: Keep reading as we reach the real Comet Falls!


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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.

Waterfalls on the trail to Comet Falls (Aug 2022)

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.

I call this one "Barely There Falls"' (Aug 2022)

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".

Even MOAR falls on the trail to Comet Falls (Aug 2022)

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.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
Saturday the 6th we wrapped up our day in Mt. Rainier National Park with two short stops: one at Reflection Lake and one at the visitors center. Yes, we visited the visitors center, the place where generally one starts a visit to get information, last. But before that was Reflection Lake.

Reflection Lake at Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

Reflection Lake was up at the top of the pass after the well-disguised trailhead to visit Martha Falls. It was right alongside the road, with ample parking— thought very busy in the late afternoon hour— so we didn't have to hike. That was a boon to our aching muscles.

Throughout my blogs on this day's adventures I've written several times about how this river or that river is fed by a glacier on Mt. Rainier. You might wonder, "How many glaciers are there?" The answer is 12. There are 12 glaciers on Mt. Rainier.

I was surprised by that number because it's a lot. Although evidence of glacial activity is everywhere in the mountains of the western US, there aren't many glaciers left. For the most part they did their thing during and coming out of the Ice Age. In most places they're gone altogether. Yosemite? Majestic Yosemite Valley is carved by a glacier, but you won't find one there anymore.

Even where glaciers do remain they are receding due to climate change. That change is partly a natural process as the climate has warmed gradually since the last Ice Age, but it's mostly a human-caused process where the climate has warmed extremely rapidly in the last 100 years. in eponymously named Glacier National Park, it's getting hard to see glaciers that were easily visible in the 1950s. Today they're just remnants of what they were within the space of an average human lifespan. Soon they may be gone altogether.

Let's enjoy the beauty that remains but also take steps to stem its demise.

In beauty we walk.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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.

Hiking the Wonderland Trail to Martha Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

Wildflowers on the Wonderland Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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!

Martha Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.
canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
Last week Saturday afternoon we drove through Mt. Rainier National Park east to west making numerous stops along the way. Most of these were planned or at least willing; we stopped for trails we wanted to hike and at places that looked interesting. A few were unplanned and unwilling. As we drove the park road through Stevens Canyon there were a few stops due to construction and one-way traffic.

Once we got through Stevens Canyon and started to climb up the other side the cause for these delays became more apparent.

Stevens Canyon at Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

Looking back across Stevens Canyon we can see that the road is not so much a road as a tiny little shelf carved into a mountainside. There's 1,000 feet of rock above it and 1,000' feet of rock below it. Those places where slides have damaged the road? That's not just road damage, those are gullies that run from earth to sky.

The second thing that's cool about stopping at this spot is that I got to use all three lenses for my camera. The wide vista above I photographed with my super-wide zoom lens at 10mm. (My Fuji X-T3 camera uses an APS-C format sensor, so a 10mm lens on it gives a field of view equal to a 15mm lens on a 35mm film camera or "full frame" digital. 15mm is still hella wide.) Most of the pictures I captured earlier in the day at Silver Falls, Box Canyon, and not-Cougar Falls were with my cheapo mid-range zoom. As I'd been carrying the heavy, expensive super-wide lens around all day I was glad for the opportunity to use its unique capability.

Mt. Rainier above Stevens Canyon (Aug 2022)

That said, there are still plenty of times to use a mid-range zoom. A photo like this one (above) frames Mt. Rainier rising over Stevens Canyon nicely.

Wait, what's that toward the right side of the frame, below the treeline but at the top of Stevens Canyon?

Waterfalls below the Stevens Glacier on Mt. Rainier (Aug 2022)

It's a waterfall. Actually, it's a triple waterfall. And I can get a good view— and a good photograph of it— courtesy of the other heavy piece of kit I've been lugging around all day with no opportunity 'til now to use, my telephoto lens.

In beauty I walk... even when I stand a mile away and view it through a scope.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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.

Falls on Nickel Creek, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
After finishing up with our hike at Silver Falls we drove west, further into Mt. Rainier National Park. Our next stop was Box Canyon. It was partly because we were trying to locate the elusive Cougar Falls; reaching Box Canyon meant we'd gone slightly too far. But it was also because Dat Mountain, Tho'!

View of Mt. Rainier from Box Canyon

There are so many great views of Rainier. It dominates the skyline not just here in the park but even 80-100 miles away in Seattle. Its peak is at 14,410' elevation, and most of what surrounds it is lower than 4,000', so it's in the view from pretty much everywhere around.

While at Box Canyon we decided to walk the paved nature trail, enjoying views of Mt. Rainier and reading signs about Box Canyon.

Box Canyon is deep and narrow

Box Canyon is an interesting canyon-within-a-canyon. Up above, where we're standing, is a broad canyon carved by Cowlitz Glacier. The lower end of it is just 3 miles away. Beneath our feet is a different canyon, Box Canyon. is narrow and deep— 180' deep where this bridge crosses it, and only 13' wide at the bottom. Box Canyon formed from a crack in the bedrock. Water flows rushes through it from melting Cowlitz Glacier. But because the rock is very hard the water has carved a very narrow channel.
canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I 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.

Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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. 😅

Cascades above Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

Cascades above Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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.

Beginning the trail to Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

On the trail to Silver Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park (Aug 2022)

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.

On the trail to Silver Falls-- this is not it! (Aug 2022)

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....
canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (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. 😅

Mount St. Helens seen from Windy Ridge (Aug 2022)

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.

Mt. Adams seen from Windy Ridge at Mount St Helens (Aug 2022)

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.

Spirit Lake seen from Windy Ridge, Mt. Rainier in the distance (Aug 2022)

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.

Mount St. Helens and the Windy Ridge stairs (Aug 2022)

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!

canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
Pacific Northwest August Travelog #4
SEA Airport - Sun, 7 Aug 2022, 7:30pm

It's been another day, another busy day, of vacation on our three-day weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest. But busy in a good way! We hiked a bunch more waterfalls in Mt. Rainier National Park.

We started the day in Puyallup. We got up at 7am, the earliest of this trip. We showered, dressed, packed, and checked out, rolling in the car by 8am. We grabbed a quickie breakfast at 7-Eleven again (yay, Big Gulp and roller taquitos!) as we drove the 90 minutes or so out to the park. There was already a pretty long line of cars at the entrance station.

We reached the trailhead for our first hike, Comet Falls, at 10am and began the 3.8 mile roundtrip, 900 foot ascent. Along the way we enjoyed views of numerous smaller falls. The river basically drains down through a narrow canyon for those 900 vertical feet. Ultimately we reached Comet Falls and... wow. It's a 300' falls with a few smaller tiers below it.

After Comet Falls we drove 1/2 mile or so to Christine Falls, which is right by the roadside. Christine Falls is actually on the same creek as Comet Falls; but the trail passes above it. We couldn't see it from the hike. But it's right there at the roadside, so it's easy to add on.

Our third stop was at Nerada Falls. It's a pretty big falls, about 80' of drop with a wide creek pouring over a rocky wall. It's an easy trek; a wide path leads to it less than 1/4 mile away. The only tough part is the return ascent. That path climbs over 100' in a short distance.

We left the trailhead for Nerada Falls a bit after 3pm. That may seem like a long time before our 8:30pm flight out of Seattle-Tacoma airport but it's not. The drive to the airport was a smidge over 2 hours, plus we needed time for stops washing up and changing clothes, and filling gas. Then there's the whole car-rental-return shuffle, followed by the TSA security shuffle. And SEA is one of those airports where TSA lines are always way slower than most other US airports. On the way out from San Jose I got randomly selected for pat-down screening, and even with that the security shuffle at SJC still took less than half the time at SEA.

Now we're at the airport awaiting our flight home. So far it's showing on time... but this is Southwest, they can always find a way to leave late!

Update: Southwest managed to be on time this time! We rolled from the gate promptly at 8:30, arrived at SJC around 10:30, and got home-home a bit after 11pm.


canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
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:

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canyonwalker

May 2025

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