I'll second that!! If you make it to Comet Falls, it's only another 700 feet up to Van Trump Park, which is legendary. Just pretty in all directions. And you'll want to explore a bit :).

Another Mt Rainier tip. When you are parked at the Reflections Lake parking, right across the road is a delightful trail up to the summit of Plummer Peak. It is an easy 1,500' climb, with a great summit, which looks across Reflection Lake to Mt Rainier itself, rising a good two miles above you :). In fact, if I had a choice between the Reflections Lake loop trail and Plummer Peak, I'd do the peak in a heartbeat. You can always walk down to Reflection Lake and get a feel for it by walking along the shore for a few feet. And then head for Plummer Peak :).

I'd like to think those are Larches, but I suspect they are dead evergreens.

If someone wanted volcanic ash to make pottery, well, there's a lot there :).

Interesting bit of trivia, Claude Rusk, a pioneer mountain climber in the area, described how he roped up to climb Mt Stuart: He grabbed the end of the rope in one hand :):). My how techniques have changed.

Climbed both Guye Peak in the foreground, and the actual Mt Snoqualmie in the background, years ago. Mt Snoqualmie is about 7,500 feet, it is the highest peak at Snoqualmie Pass. From the far side of the summit of Mt Snoqualmie is a 700' dropoff that looks out over all the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Stunning!

In the hanging valley between Guye Peak and Mt Snoqualmie are a number of limestone caves. Very vertical and quite dangerous, only for cave experts. But interesting that they are there.

I have pondered those flats many times. Obviously they aren't the bottom of the glacier valley, so they must be moraines. I haven't figured out why they are so flat, but obviously again, it was done somehow during the glaciation :):). OR, maybe they were the flat bottom of the glacier valley, and the rivers further eroded around them. Would love to have been a geologist in another lifetime, what stories they have to tell :).

Interesting, I did not know that. I don't recall seeing signs, but I will be looking next time I go. That being said, I do have a Discovery Pass :).

Yeah, when it's crowded, it's really crowded :).

One of my favorite trails. I like that there is no parking pass requirement, and fairly abundant parking. It's also a fairly easy trail, and the views from the top are just spectacular :).

Climbed Mt Shuksan in my youth (1980). See that "ramp" going from high on the left across the mountain down to the right. That is the path of the Sulphide Glacier, which was our route. So we were upon the flanks of Mt Shuksan, looking back at Mt Baker across the valley. Every bit as gorgeous either way. But Shuksan has a bit higher claim on pure aesthetic beauty, I think :).

This is why we love the PNW the way we do! Gorgeous photo and I bet it was a magical adventure when you got it.

One of the largest jewels in Washington :):)

There's always a trip to Paradise on Mt Rainier, and to view Mt St Helens. Any trip (loops are fine) that includes a ferry ride across Puget Sound is just magic. If you drive up anywhere near Anacortes, be SURE to drive to the top of Mt Erie, and walk out on the walkways to the cliff edge. You are 1,300' above Lake Campbell and Whidbey Island and the whole Deception Pass area. Just gorgeous, if you have a sunny day. If you drive out to the ocean, plan on spending at least an hour driving the back roads of Ocean Shores. There are tons of tame deer there. The last time we did that, we counted 20 deer sightings. Just plain fun. And you're right up next to them :). And you can drive out on the beach and up and down the beach a bit. Best if you have an all wheel drive :). There is a Lewis and Clark Museum at Ilwaco that is awesome.

I think ferry rides, especially on a nice day, are one of the jewels of Washington state. I always make sure visitors who have never been to Washington before get a ferry ride. Who can beat a view of majestic snow-covered Mt Rainier rising over Harbor Island. My last visitor was treated to a magnificent sunset over Whidbey Island as we steamed away. (Steaming away sounds ever so much better than "dieseled away" :). One of my favorite movies (Double Jeopardy) has some great Washington state ferry scenes :). We even got a great folks song from our ferry system, "Elwa on the Rocks" :).

I haven't been up there in a long long time (since the 1980's) so maybe those steam caves are still there? That would be something. I sort of suspect though that it was the furious steam that came out between 1975 and 1985 that sustained the caves. Anyways beautiful mountain, one of my favorites. I've been on top 4 times :). In fact, it was my very first major glaciated peak.

That is cool to know, I didn't know that. The next time I'm on that ferry, I'm going to look :). Thanks.

My first serious snow was driving up to Paradise on Mt Rainier in winter. The snow was 50 feet deep, and driving the road was like being in a 50' deep canyon. The access to the bathrooms from the parking lot was through an arched corrugated steel tunnel under the snow. Just amazing :). [Edit] Lived near Olympia, about a 3 hour drive to Mt Rainier.

I would add for Mt Rainier that with its 36 glaciers, it is the most glaciated peak in all the lower 48 states.

I'll second this. It always rains here, and the sun never comes out. You can't believe those picture-postcard images of the Pacific Northwest, they probably were shot in New Zealand or somewhere else where the sun actually shines on beautiful blue water and the mountains glisten with new snow. Yeah that's the ticket, those pictures are made with AI or something. So, yeah, don't come here!!!

Before Mt St Helens blew, Glacier Peak was listed as the most likely to erupt next. By the way, have climbed all of the Cascade volcanoes over the years. Glacier Peak is about the size of Mt Baker, and is beautiful. Just very very deep in the Cascades and can be seen from only one highway (Highway 20 way up north). One of the glaciers that carved out Lake Chelan came from Glacier Peak :).

I don't know how old you are :), but in 1975, a steam fumarole started shooting steam straight up 1,000 feet out of Sherman Crater at the summit of Mt Baker. It lasted about 10 years, and then died out. In the early 1980s, I was part of a climbing party that climbed up to Mt Baker then, and we rappelled down into Sherman Crater where the fumarole was coming from. It came out of a 4 inch diameter hole and roared like a freight train and shot straight up 1,000 feet. We could walk right up to it. The area around the hole was saturated with yellow sulfur. In addition, the heat had melted out giant caverns under the ice cap in Sherman crater, making ice caves. We spent about an hour exploring them, but they were way bigger than we had time for. The entrance was about 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. Shortly inside, the passage forked. We took the left fork and ended up in a gigantic room the size of a football field with a very high ceiling. Amazing. I am sure after the fumarole stopped, that the caves vanished and were again replaced with solid ice, which is how it is today. So...that's what we were doing up there when you were seven years old :). I am now 78, and by the way still climbing mountains :).

I am older, and grew up with Jacques Cousteau as a world renowned hero. Not only was he an inventor of our modern scuba pressurized gear, but his exploits were just awesome, inspirational, and most of all fascinating. I'm glad he's being honored and revered, as is his ship.

The North Bend Bar and Grill used to make a killer Jambalaya. I stopped in last summer after climbing Mt Si to get my traditional after-hike Jambalaya, and found out they don't make it any more. Bummer. Still great place to go, though. Now they make killer sandwiches. Still, miss the Jambalaya, though. Been climbing Mt Si on and off for over 40 years :).

I had a neighbor once who gave me an account of a terrifying trip he did up at Index. He went into a mine, and climbed up some ladders. Eventually he got to very high ladder, and it broke beneath him, so he could only go up. He came out on a trapdoor on the top of Mt Index. There were some mountain goat tracks in the light snow cover, which showed him an unlikely way to climb down off the mountain. Whew! I ran across another neighbor later, and he told me, you didn't believe a word he said did you? Well yes I did. Hanging on every word. Turns out he was a notorious liar. Well, he got me good :). By the way, I once rappelled part way down Mt Index as part of a practice session, it is a magnificent mountain.

Climbed up the Sulphide Glacier once, very pretty and memorable. We did it in August, and went through some delicious huckleberry fields on the way up :).