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40 years outdoors experience, extensive info on Mt. Rainier’s Wonderland Trail, original music, equipment reviews, off trail videos, other peaks in Mt. Rainier NP
Tyee Peak is accessed from Mt. Rainier's Northern Loop Trail near Windy Gap, with a social trail that deposits the hiker right at its base. I tagged this peak on a 2 day NLT transit, along with Pigeon Peak. My decision to circle the mid base of the peak to the east and climb the east face was doable but not prudent. The much easier route up the wooded west ridge proved to be the "normal" way, as I found out on my descent. Both routes are shown in this video.
Marcus Peak was the last peak remaining in this part of the park for me, so I bagged it when I was camping at White River for a few days, driving up to Sunrise Point to hike the Palisades Trail. A left turn to Hidden Lake brings one to an informal trail that goes to the saddle between Palisades and Marcus. The Mountaineers book shows the route going up the ridge to Marcus, with the description saying stay mostly to the right. After floundering in the trees on the ridge, I dropped back down to open country and came across a trail that led to a gully, taking you right up to the base of the summit block. However, first I traversed over to the saddle on the NW side of Marcus to check out that route; it didn’t look inviting. I circled back to the trail and finally summited by gaining the ridge from an obvious gully. The summit block provided good solid holds to the top. Stats: 8.5 miles/3,500’ elev. Video rated Mature due to one cuss word.
Basically, I bungled the approach to this peak (August 11, 2023), ascending straight to the summit from a hop off point on the PCT. This was probably much harder than had I stuck to the description, ascending to the col and then via the ridge to the summit. However, my approach luckily went and I eventually intersected the "normal" approach maybe 100 feet below the summit block. The Mountaineer's description for the last 50 feet is "The Three Way summit block and final 50' are somewhat exposed but not technical." I found this to be the case, actually much easier than the nasty gullies I ascended and descended in the process. I had been peak bagging staging out of the Crystal Mountain RV lot, so my approach was via the Silver Creek Trail to a PCT connector, then the PCT. Stats: 10 miles/2932' elevation gain. Beautiful weather was on the palette this day! Rated Mature due to a few mild cuss words.
First a note on the wonky video, which I eventually diagnosed and corrected after this trip. For those GoPro users, after a firmware update I had to make the Hero11 recognize that I had the Max lens mod installed
Third time’s a charm, trying for Wow from the West Side Road via the steep and unmaintained Lake Allen “trail.” Blog post is here. If you want to see more about the Lake Allen trail, click this. For this old guy it was an unrelenting, brutal day; stats: 6.7 miles/5018’ elev
Mt. Rainier National Park's Florence Peak (5508') was #66 on the 100 peaks list for me. The Boundary Trail (Carbon River entrance) was in nice shape all the way to the saddle on Alki Crest, and the social/climbers trail along the crest led me all the way to the false summit. An easy scramble deposited me on the summit proper. May 26th, 2023 had me only stepping on a few very short sections of snow. I mistakenly figured that hitting Sweet Peak on the way back would be easy, but my attempt to reach the saddle leading to that lower wooded summit was a tangled mess of mossy rocks, snow, slide Alder and Devils Club. Surmising that perhaps I wasn't taking the best approach to Sweet, I elected to turn around an save that for another day. NOTE: I experimented with recording this trip in GoPro’s Superview mode…that won’t happen again.
Lane Peak resides in the Tatoosh Range in Mt. Rainier National Park. It is described as a difficult scramble in the "100 Peaks in Mt. Rainier" guide due to a steep gully that must be ascended to attain the summit. On a beautiful summer like Thursday (October 5/2022) I decided to give it a go. The description was correct; but although steep, there are bountiful hand holds and I never felt very exposed. This was peak #65 for me in my ongoing chipping away at the list. The fact that the Tatoosh side of the park is simply spectacular, especially clad in fall colors, was icing on the cake. I mounted a GoPro Max 360 camera on my helmet to try to capture the essence of the gully climb.
Yakima Peak has the shortest access I've encountered yet, pretty much right out of the parking lot at Chinook Pass (WA 410). In fact, Strava had the round trip at 1.25 miles. This was a pleasant short jaunt despite rising temperatures, sporting great 360 degree views. Yakima was my first peak on the Rainier 100 list this year at #63.
Old Desolate in Mt. Rainier National Park towers above Mystic Lake. Unlike singular peaks, Old Desolate occupies a long ridge. Towards one end the high point tops at 7137'. For this iteration I started at Sunrise and hiked the Wonderland Trail past Mystic Lake, Mystic Pass, and entered the area of Moraine Park. After ascending a dry wash to a plateau in Moraine Park, I climbed straight away to a sub peak on the ridge which offered astounding in your face views. However, to reach the summit proper I had to descend a bit and traverse the loose rock that covers the whole western face. The summit area is round and broad, peering down to Mystic Lake and across to the Burroughs Mountains and the entirety of the Winthrop Glacier. Stats for the day: 25 miles with 7700' vertical.
This video starts on the contour below and around Banshee. Central Cowlitz is described as a moderate scramble, but I found the hardest part of the day to be the side hilling and route finding below Banshee to access the peak. The star of the day is the view from the summit, looking across to the sheer wall below Banshee and the Sarvant Glacier with Rainier in the background. As usual for this area of the park, goats were seen lounging in various places during the hike. Because I started and ended at White River campground, the day was longish at 22 miles with 5500’ elevation. Link to blog writeup.
Actually there’s a trail to First, Second and Third Burroughs mountains. I include Third Burroughs here because of the outstanding views to be had from this 7828 foot summit. Gazing down on the seracs of the Winthrop Glacier from a mere hike is a treat indeed! The first part of the video includes a short jaunt on the Emmons Moraine trail to check out the tarn downstream from the Emmons Glacier terminus.
As the Mowich Lake Road (November 10th, 2019) was nearing its closing date, I decided to bag 4 peaks in one outing, all basically accessed from the Boundary Trail. Surprisingly the Boundary Trail was in excellent shape all the way to a clearing marking a FS road end (out of the NP boundary). From this point the old Boundary Trail continues all the way to the Carbon River entrance, which I have yet to explore….perhaps in 2021. My sequence was Martin (4880’) first, then back on the Boundary Trail to August (4680’). In my iteration I back tracked on the Boundary Trail to then hit Virginia (4880’) and continuing on to Berry (5120’). However, one can choose to proceed directly to Berry from August. On my return from Berry I mistakenly started down the wrong ridge line ( see graphic) between Berry and Virginia; this path obviously led directly to August, which one could use to shortcut between these two peaks. I soon discovered my mistake and proceeded back the way I came. This was a good example of using GPS or compass to check position and direction of travel as wooded navigation pretty much looks the same. The blog post for these peaks can be found here.
First I must caveat this hike/skin/ski with a caution from “Guide to 100 peaks in Mt. Rainier National Park.”
This is a climb and is serious in places. It can be dangerous without requisite skills and equipment.
Any travel on glaciers should be approached with caution. That said, on June 15, 2019 I set out to tag Whitman Crest (9323’) and ski the Fryingpan Glacier on a beautiful spring day. The Fryingpan Glacier is accessed by hiking above Summerland to Meany Crest (7280’) and ascending the Fryingpan Glacier. Little Tahoma dominates the view with Mt. Rainier hiding behind. The hike was somewhat strenuous but the ski was glorious. Stats: 12 miles/5400’. The Whitman Crest blog post can be accessed here.
Providing a more lingering experience of solitary hikes, the Off Trail series takes the viewer to places seldom seen by dedicated Wonderland Trail hikers or those who stick to trails during the traditional summer season. Aurora Peak (6094') is found near Klapatche Park off the Wonderland Trail. This trek took place on November 2, 2019 during a period of great weather. Aurora Peak was accessed via biking the West Side Road to St. Andrews Creek, hiking the St. Andrews Creek Trail, and proceeding on the Wonderland until the off trail section. A short visit to a frozen St. Andrews Lake was in order also. Stats for the day, 27 miles (16 biking)/5700’ elev. The blog post on this hike can be found here.
It made for a full day with 11.3 miles and 6600’ of climb, but these 3 peaks are clustered together with access from the Eagle Peak trail so it made sense to get them all in in one day. I departed the Eagle Peak trail according to a description: leave the trail at 5000’ where it joins an open meadow and head east to the saddle between Wahpenayo and Chutla at 5800’”. After summiting Wahpenayo (6231’), I made my way back to the saddle and descended, contouring around until I spotted a possible way to the saddle between Chutla and Eagle. Some steep climbing here and lots of huffing and puffing. After summiting Chutla (6000’) I scrambled back to the end of the maintained trail, the saddle between Eagle and Chutla. Some mild exposed scrambling led to the summit of Eagle (5958’), where I returned to the trail and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon stroll back to my parked vehicle. The blog post for these peaks can be found here.
This was a relatively easy day compared to the 3 peaker the day before, with just 6 miles and 3400’ of climb/descent. I started off attempting Pinnacle Peak (6562’) but got off course and tried to traverse instead of just going straight up the ridge. Crumbly steep slopes sapped my gumption by the time I reversed back to the ridge. I ascended another 100 feet and decided to turn back. However, the day was not done as Plummer (6370’) and Denman (6006’) were still on the menu, and the main course was some easy peaks topped with abundant sunshine and perfect temperatures. This is glorious terrain. Read the blog post here.
Piggy backing on a jaunt the day before to Aurora Peak, I set out on November 3, 2019 during a period of fantastic weather to climb Andrew Benchmark (6716'). Although it is close to the previous day's climb of Aurora Peak, with the short days I took a different route to Andrew, utilizing the West Side Road to Round Pass, then the South Puyallup Trail to the Wonderland Trail, leaving the snow covered trail in St. Andrews Park and proceeding towards Andrew. This trip involved contouring around the base of Andrew and accessing it from the Northeast side. Snow was consolidated. I had a flat tire on my mountain bike in the morning so had to do this entire trip via foot. The blog post on this trip can be accessed here.
I’m really chatty on this outing. Maybe because I’d been hiking, running and peak bagging for the past few months and was in relatively good shape. This jaunt to Mount Ararat (6010’) seemed like a walk in the park, and my legs barely noticed the 12 miles and 3800’ of climb/descent. If only this could last, but I enjoyed it in the moment. Unfortunately, the fantastic view towards The Rock shall remain a mystery to me, as my time on the summit only offered a few seconds of the very tippy top of Rainier. Nonetheless, a fantastic day in the mountains! Read the Mount Ararat blog here.
I ventured out as the pandemic was getting serious for a solitary skin/ski on March 18th, 2020. The low angled terrain made for more skinning than skiing; this jaunt could just as easily have been done on snowshoes. The weather was superb, though, and besides a couple of snow shoers heading in a different direction my time outside was devoid of people.
Another peak in Mount Rainier National Park; I am slowly working on climbing park peaks on the 100 list. Tamanos Mountain (6790’) was accessed from the White River entrance to the park, taking the Owyhigh Lakes trail. This video picks up after leaving the established trail and accessing the climbers trail to the saddle, turning right and skirting rock outcroppings on the left to the summit. The blog post for Tamanos can be found here. Another beautiful day in the park!
Tahtlum Peak (6567’) is accessed in Mt. Rainier National Park from Chinook Pass. After hiking south on the Pacific Crest Trail, I proceeded left towards Tahtlum, crossing a couple of significant bumps in the terrain along the way. This made for a relaxed day with only 8 miles and 2600’ of climb. View the blog post on Tahtlum Peak here, especially to see the massiveness of Mt. Rainier compared to the video, which (because of the wide angle lens) minimizes objects in the distance.