Mt. Rainier National Park - Day #2

For our last day in Mt. Rainier National Park, we thought we'd explore the eastern side of the park. First up, we found the trailhead for Silver Falls and walked the .5 miles down to the bridge where we could see the water of the Ohanapecosh River crashing over the rocks.

Jim was looking for all of the good fishing spots

Silver Falls

Downstream of the falls

The next hike on the agenda was the Naches Loop Trail. This 3.3-mile trail starts by the picturesque Tipsoo Lake and works its way up about 500 feet to the Chinook Pass while passing several other small lakes. The back half of the trail is magnificent with views of snow topped Mt. Rainer in the distance. Once again, the wildflowers were in full bloom and some fellow hikers even introduced us to wild huckleberries growing along the trail. We sampled a few and think it would be fun to try a huckleberry pie sometime. 

Jim with Tipsoo Lake behind him

Lots of wildflowers!

The last stop of the day was the Sunrise Visitor Center which is at an elevation of 6400 feet - the highest spot in the park that is accessible by car. It was much cooler at this elevation, so we huddled in the car to stay warm while eating our picnic lunch. Since the clouds had moved in obscuring Mt. Rainier, we just checked out the displays in the visitor center, bought a snack at the snack bar, and hit the road for the 2.5-hour drive to Seattle.

Mt. Rainier National Park - Day #1

After getting our picture taken in front of the Mt. Rainier National Park sign, we made a beeline for the Paradise area of the park. Our primary goal here was to hike the Skyline Trail - a strenuous hike that covers 6.2 miles with an elevation gain of 1900 feet. We opted to hike in a counterclockwise direction so that we would get to Myrtle Falls before the crowds got too bad. Prior to hiking this trail, we didn't know much about it other than it's known as the "must do" hike in the national park. Well, we were blown away by the gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier, meadows of blooming wildflowers, gurgling waterfalls, and clear views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Saint Helens off in the distance. Luckily, we got an early enough start that the crowds weren't too bad until the descent.

On the steps leading to the Skyline Trail

We saw several marmots on this hike

This one was sunbathing on the rocks

After the hike, we purchased our national park magnet from the visitor center and had a picnic lunch in our car, before making our way to the Narada Falls viewpoint.

Narada Falls

Next, we stopped at Reflection Lake to enjoy the picture-perfect views. Back in the car, we decided that we would do the short hike to Silver Falls, but after missing the trailhead as we were driving, we decided we would do it tomorrow instead. 

The lake lived up to its name

At our VRBO cabin in Packwood, we got cleaned up, went into town for dinner, and then hit the sack early. 

Leavenworth, Washington

Today was a driving day to get from the North Cascades National Park to Mt. Rainier National Park. It's about a 5-hour drive, so we decided to break up the driving with a little detour to Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is a charming Bavarian-style village nestled in the Cascade Mountains. We spent several hours here immersed in all things German.  

We started by touring the Nutcracker Museum. This museum houses over 9000 nutcrackers crafted in over 50 countries. We saw so many unique nutcrackers including nutcrackers in the shape of a clown, easter bunny, Mickey Mouse, and even a Hillary Clinton nutcracker!

Next, it was time for lunch at the Munchen Haus. Jim had a Bratwurst with potato salad and I had a pretzel. It was so good!

After lunch, we wandered through the many shops and purchased a few German pastries before we hit the road on our way to Mt. Rainier National Park.

North Cascades National Park - Day #2

The Maple Loop Pass Trail at North Cascades National Park is a hike I read about on a travel blog years ago and have wanted to hike it ever since. Today was the day that I finally got to hike it! This hike is one of the most popular in the park because of the amazing views it affords. It's a bit challenging at 7.5 miles long with an elevation gain of 2191 feet. We arrived at the trailhead parking lot around 9:30am and got one of the last parking spots. It was overcast with a light misty rain, but we didn't let that stop us. 

After reading many recommendations, we chose to hike in a counterclockwise direction. The first mile or so is steadily uphill through a heavily forested section. Once we gained some elevation, we were out of the woods and surrounded by beautiful views of wildflowers, Lake Ann, and mountains all around. It was some of the prettiest scenery we've ever encountered and reminded us of the vistas we enjoyed in Murren, Switzerland. I took so many pictures that it was hard to pick just a few to include here! In total, we logged 24,000 steps for the day - a much longer hike than we usually tackle, but so worth it!

The 1st view of Lake Ann

The wildflowers were beautiful!

A view of Lake Ann from a higher elevation

Lake Ann with wildflowers

The Liberty Bell Mountain

The trail back down from the pass

After the hike, we went back to the cabin to shower and then off to Winthrop's local pizza spot for dinner.