Hiking the Skyline Trail, Waterfalls & More
Mount Rainier is one of the Premier mountains in the United States and is a commanding force that can be seen from all over Western Washington on a clear day it’s a park I have wanted to visit for years and I can honestly say that it lived up to expectations with some of the most stunning views waterfalls and Hikes I’ve experienced in a long time the national park encompasses the mountain and the 200 000 Acres of natural beauty that’s surround it here is all the information on my one day in Mount Rainier National Park and let me
know what your favorite spot is in the comments the National Park is located about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Seattle it’s an easy drive and it has some beautiful views of the mountain as you make your way south I was actually planning on doing something else in Seattle but it was so clear the day I was there that I had to go down to Mount Rainier eventually I made it to the park entrance around 9am and began my time at Mount Rainier National Park also there are three distinct sections for this park and I just spent my time
in the paradise section my first stop was the Viewpoint and parking area right after Kouts Creek made it into the park we’re heading to the paradise Visitor Center but I figured there’s a Viewpoint sign I should probably stop here first this is a short three to five minute walk to the Viewpoint and it’s relatively covered but it’s still a beautiful introduction to the park I’m feeling pretty excited about today that was a tiny View and it was already amazing plus it’s supposed to be clear
all day long my plan was to head all the way to the paradise Visitor Center in order to get a parking spot before the park filled up but there’s so many amazing sites to see here that I kept pulling off the first of these was Christine Falls and I pulled off before the bridge and then I went past the bridge and walked down to the false viewpoint you don’t want to miss this Viewpoint it was one of my favorite views in the park tell me that’s not one of the coolest waterfall views you’ve seen a bridge right above it wow
I love photographing waterfalls and bridges so this view is basically As Good As It Gets for me heading on I didn’t stop again till the paradise Visitor Center and this ended up being the right call the views from the scenic road on the way up are worth the price admission just by themselves I’m glad I rushed up here this is a Monday and it is completely full basically the trail we’re heading out on is right there before starting the trail be sure to head into the visitor center ask any questions and pick up a map
unfortunately many of the exhibits were still closed when I was there got some lunch before heading out on the skyline Trail which should be amazing today I was actually planning on doing some other stuff in the Seattle area but when I saw Rainier was going to be clear I had to come down here and I am so glad that I did I keep talking about how clear it is because the Mountain’s over 14 000 feet and has its own weather system often with a top covered in clouds [Music] we’re here we’re gonna head out to
Panorama point and then I think we’re going to cut it off at the Golden Gate Trail and come back the trail started out right with the great John Muir quote before you climb the stairs and start the hike most of the video focuses on this hike as it’s often voted one of the best hikes in the entire National Park system do note that it is a tough Trail though with over 1700 feet of elevation gain and about six miles round trip the grade on this hike is incredibly steep I found up like 300 feet in like a
quarter of a mile paved but it’s very steep basically prepare to be going uphill the entire way to Panorama point and for there to not really be any shade on the entire Trail look at how tiny the people are over here in the shadow of that massive Mountain [Music] man the views on this Trail so cool this may be one of the best hikes I’ve done so far in a national park this Trail had two main things going for it when I was there the first being that the mountain was so clear and easy to see and the second being that it was
false there was many different bushes and other plants that had some fall colors going it didn’t have any of the traditional fall trees but you’ll see later in the video that there’s still some amazing fall colors [Music] there’s the trash training to head up [Music] I keep taking the same photo over and over again but I mean can you blame me it’s like every Bend of this Trail is better while the trail is uphill the entire way it’s really well maintained and easy to travel even though it’s steep
now we got views that way and that way you can see how steep this is the parking lot is like way in down in that Valley we even haven’t even reached the top of the trailhead wow you guys look at that waterfall falling off Mount Rainier oh my gosh that is so cool I was shocked when I got here is I had never even seen a picture of this waterfall on Mount Rainier guys there’s literally a waterfall at the base of Mount Rainier I can’t get over this place when I talked to the Rangers earlier in the day they told me that this was a
really low snow year for Mount Rainier normally from here you’d be able to see a couple different glaciers but they were relatively small when I was there one last push up to Panorama point here the trail continues to gain elevation on a series of rock and wooden steps with great views back the way you came down into the valley you can even see the bridge that you went across to get over the Creek Way Down Below you here’s the split to head up to Camp Muir which is the starting point kind of for the push-up
to The Summit turned away from the mountain now it’s behind us as we head up to the point we’re just continuing to go up any Panorama point is up there but we have come a long way from the parking lot so do note that if you’re doing this Trail there it is Panorama point we’re almost there made it to Panorama point Panorama Point sits at 6 800 feet of elevation and on a clear day you can see dozens of mountains including Mount Hood and Mount St Helens way out in the distance we still got a little bit more elevation
on this Trail before we can start heading down we’re going from the skyline to the high Skyline also there is a toilet up here if you need it I thought this was the high point of the trail but the high point is actually a small hill behind this spot of course the views as you make your way up are incredible and there’s actually another waterfall to the right and below the summit we made it to the trail High Point and can finally start the path back down the path back down is steep and Rocky but it’s nice to be going downhill
for many people though a hiking pole would probably help here Panorama point over there and we are all the way over here I recommend doing this Trail clockwise as you can see Mount Rainier the entire way up on the way down it is still visible but it does go behind the mountains a little bit when I talk to the ranger before starting the hike they told me that if I wanted to cut it a little bit shorter I could take the Golden Gate Trail down this cuts off about a mile from the hike and since I wanted to explore a lot more
of the park I decided to do this it ended up being a steep but beautiful Trail and let me know how the rest of the skyline Trail is if you do it and if there was anything that I missed this is also where I saw some of the bushes that had that fall color with a lot of Reds and oranges it was pretty incredible and this video will never do justice to how beautiful it was [Music] I can’t get over how amazing these colors are man it’s so beautiful this part of the trail follows a creek and there’s a few tiny waterfalls as you
make your way down it’s one of those places where you’re going to want to take your time and just enjoy the end of the trail all right we’re just about done with the hike that was one of the top five best hikes I’ve probably ever done just incredible views with the fall with the mountain and then we’re ending at the waterfall which is also an incredible View as we get back to this split we’re coming back to where the skyline Trail would have taken us if we didn’t split off on the Golden Gate Trail
the waterfall goes right under this bridge that’s the viewing area right there after crossing over the bridge there’s a short steep path that’ll take you down to the viewing platform for Myrtle Falls note that this is one of the most iconic views in the park and it’s always busy after seeing it though I understand what all the fuss is about this 75-foot waterfall Cascades into the gorge below with amazing views of Mount Rainier behind it if you don’t want to do the entire Skyline Trail you can just hike to the
waterfall which is about a half mile from the parking lot there’s a ton of people doing this short hike so you’ll pass a lot of them as you make your way back for me I just headed back to my car so I could explore a few more spots in Mount Rainier before ending the day I do want to stress again that if it’s a clear day be sure to get here early this was a weekday and people were basically parking along the road up to a mile away the Stevens Canyon Road through the park was already closed for the winter so the
furthest I could drive was reflection Lake which was my next stop for some reason they have the entire Lakeside closed off with these ropes so you can’t even get close to the water to take a picture which is a little bit of a bummer but it’s still a really beautiful area and there’s lots of people that are going over the ropes this would be a great place for photography if you could get closer to the water but I didn’t stay for very long [Music] look at that view if it’s clear just driving the scenic
view is worth the trip by itself there’s a waterfall down there as well which is our next stop from there is about a seven minute drive down to the parking area For Narada Falls [Music] there’s the viewing area way down there you can just take it in from the parking area but I highly recommend you hike down when it’s about a tenth of a mile it’s downhill on the way down I pull on the way back you can start to see it coming through the trees I think it’s going to be pretty impressive well that was worth the 10th of Mile
Trail I think there’s even a rainbow at the base [Music] this waterfall is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in a long time I love how wide it is with multiple different streams all cascading over the Rocks below plus it’s about 165 feet tall and the rainbow at the base was hard to beat we’re seeing Mount Rainier is moving up my list of national parks that’s for sure as I made my way towards the exit of the park I stopped one more time at Christine Falls as I loved it so much the first time
that waterfall on the bridge is so epic and that’s one of like five epic waterfalls we’ve seen today my last spot before heading out was to explore the Longmire area of the park here you can visit the Longmire Museum which was the original Park headquarters from the early 1900s and which is now a small Museum inside they have exhibits on the history wildlife and even the glaciers there’s a few trails in this area as well across the street from the parking lot after exploring the Longmire Museum I’m
heading out on my last trail of the day the trail of the shadows and it’s about three quarters of a mile this is a great family-friendly trail with lots of good views and history plaques beautiful little Meadow right at the start of the trail they said it’s called the Longmire Meadow plus it has a great view of Mount Rainier this area is famous for the dozens of different hot springs that are found throughout it James Longmire was the one who originally found them and even created the Longmire Springs hotel in the 1890s
people would come from all over to soak in the pools and even though the hotel is no longer there you can learn about it on the different historic plaques foreign as you continue around you’ll see the Longmire cabin this cabin was built by James son in 1888. it’s still standing and you can actually go inside and explore it it’s really cool to be able to see a piece of History like this in the park this is a great family friendly trail with basically no incline lots of History plaques to read really cool
little spot great addition to the park but obviously those other Trails were better as you leave the cabin you’ll see another example of the historic hot springs that were in the area now it just has an orange rusty water running from it but it’s still interesting to see even though this Trail doesn’t have much incline it’s unfortunately not ABA has some areas with lots of roots but some cool Boardwalk areas as well the last half mile of this trail goes along the back side of the meadow and is
shaded the entire way there’s not as much history to explore here but it is a beautiful area you can take this Trail clockwise or counterclockwise but I did it counterclockwise in this video eventually you’ll round a bend and see the road in front of you and then you’ll parallel the road back to the start of the trail that’s it for my day in Mount Rainier National Park honestly this is probably one of my favorite national parks now it was incredible and I’ve only explored a small section there’s the sunrise
section and I think there’s one other section leave your favorite spots in the comments for when I come back thanks again for following along with me we’ll see you on the next video foreign