This week finds us camped in the forest not far from Mt. Rainier, outside a small town called Mossyrock. The area around us is filled with Christmas tree farms, blueberry fields and gorgeous lakes. We spent yesterday hiking a couple trails on the Paradise side of Mt. Rainier and even got a peek of her magnitude when the clouds parted over the summit for just a short bit. It was great to be back on the trail with Bob. Even though the boys are always up for a hike, they don't appreciate the longer steeper ones that we find ourselves on pretty regularly.
After a quick little hike to see Narada Falls and a check in at the Paradise Visitor Center to see if any of the trails were closed due to snow, we decided to do the Reflection Lake Trail. From the trailhead right at the lake we took a clockwise direction and looped up and around Reflection Lake. A steep gradual climb took us up away from the lake and through the dense forest to the summit where we crossed over a peaceful beautiful Alpine meadow. We crossed a few small snow-patches at the higher elevations but the trail was easy to follow and we hiked in relative solitude encountering only a few other people. The views were spectacular of the Tatoosh Range, with Pinnacle Peak rising in all it's glory in the afternoon sun. Rosy spirea, fireweed, lupin, avalanche lilies and so many wildflowers I will have to learn the names of greeted us along the way. We didn't see much wildlife, but Bob did see some animal scat that he couldn't identify. Thankfully no signs of bears!
I hadn't read that much about the trail other than we were going around Reflection Lake, so was surprised when we came up to the straight off 200' vertical drop known as Faraway Rock. I was also incredibly glad we didn't have the grands with us. Daredevils that they are, they would have terrified me, but the view was AMAZING! A great spot to sit and have our traditional sip or three of whiskey, and then it was back down the steep trail to the lake. By the time we got back to the jeep Mt. Rainier was peeking her head out of the clouds, the first time we had seen it all day. Was a beautiful way to end the hike.
