Tag: Packwood WA

Comet Falls and Snow & Bench Lakes – 08/07/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 14, 2025
No Comments on Comet Falls and Snow & Bench Lakes – 08/07/2025

After a wet Wednesday the forecast for Thursday looked a lot drier with only a slight chance of a shower in the morning and partly sunny skies by the afternoon. Our plan was to continue the waterfall theme from the day before (post) by visiting Comet Falls then check out a pair of lakes, Bench and Snow, before returning to Packwood for one final night.

It was dry but overcast when we arrived at the Comet Falls Trailhead.

The Van Trump Trail climbs relatively steeply for almost two miles to the base of Comet Falls. Total elevation gain is approximately 1250′ making this a fairly strenuous hike.

This footbridge is over Chrstine Falls which we got a view of the day before.

Van Trump Creek

Paintbrush

Several salmonberries were consumed during this hike.

Pika!

Fireweed

The steep set of stairs ahead were a workout.

Pearly everlasting

Beardtongue

Monkeyflower and yellow willow-herb

Unnamed fall on Van Trump Creek.

Rocky stretch of trail where the pikas were seemingly everywhere.

One pika!

Pika number 2, with snack.

Tall mountain bluebells

Confluence of the West and East Forks of Van Trump Creek.

Footbridge over the East Fork Van Trump Creek.

Bloucher Falls

It was just 200′ from Bloucher Falls to a viewpoint of Comet Falls. Unfortunately fog was hiding most of the view from the viewpoint, but continuing on the Van Trump Trail produced clearer views.

Comet Falls is over 300′ tall.

The best view of the morning before more fog rolled in.

The Van Trump Trail continues steeply uphill to Van Trump Park and can be connected to the Rampart Ridge Trail (post). Originally, we had planned on visiting the wildflowers and views at Van Trump Park, but after rearraigning our plans due to Sunday’s flat tire (post) and Wednesday’s rain we decided to turn around at Comet Falls.

Right about the time we headed back more fog moved in really obstructing the view of the falls.

Fog was now affecting the view of Bloucher Falls as well.

We kept our eyes out for pikas on the way down and were not disappointed.

Beardtongue

Pika with a mouthful of vegatation.

Stonecrop

Harebells

Penstemon

A pika and a thrush.

Blueberries

Twinflower

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Final drop to the trailhead.

Our 3.8-mile, 1250′ track.

From the trailhead we headed back toward Packwood for eight miles to the Snow Lake Trailhead. The trailhead itself was closed for repaving/striping, but we’d hoped to find a spot along one of the nearby pullouts. The two closest pullouts were full so we wound up driving 0.4-miles back up Stevens Canyon Road to the next available pullout.

The closed trailhead.

The pullout we parked at.

We had a 0.4-mile road walk to reach the trail.

The full pullouts on either side of the road.

While the trail is only about 1.2-miles long it gains over 600′ in a series of steep ups and downs.

False hellebore

Unicorn Peak in the clouds.

Gentian

The northern end of Bench Lake. There is reportedly a view of Mt. Rainier to the north from this rocky overlook however the clouds eliminated any chance of that today.

Spur trail to the left down to Bench Lake.

The spur trail was steep and very eroded. Heather took one look and said “no thanks” and continued on to Snow Lake.

On a clear day there would be a view of Mt. Rainier from the southern end of this lake.

Blurry great blue heron on the far side of Bench Lake.

After checking out Bench Lake I followed Heather toward Snow Lake.

Paintbrush

Footbridge over Unicorn Creek.

Arnica

Spur to Snow Lake Camp and the privy to the left.

Snow Lake

Sickle-top lousewort

Snow Lake from the outlet.

\
Snow Lake Trail passing above Snow Lake.

Unicorn Peak

The end of the maintained trail.

Unicorn Creek near its source.

Tents at Snow Lake Camp across the water.

We headed back after visiting Snow Lake and while the clouds began to break up the sky didn’t clear up enough for us to ever see Mount Rainier.

Unicorn Peak with a little blue sky.

Nuthatch

We stopped at the overlook of Bench Lake again to watch some deer in the brush below.

No view of the mountain today.

Due to where we parked this stop came in at 3.7-miles with a little over 700′ of elevation gain giving us a total of 7.3-miles and 1950′ on the day.

We returned to Packwood for our final night. We had burgers from Cliff Droppers for dinner then watched the elk graze in the grass behind our room.

Group A

Group B

Another great day at Mount Rainier was in the books with one more hike remaining. The next morning we would be heading for the Naches Peak Loop where we hoped to see some great wildflowers and epic views of Mount Rainier. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Comet Falls and Snow & Bench Lakes

Tags Bench Lake, Cliff Droppers, Comet Falls, hiking, Mount Rainier National Park, Packwood WA, Pika, snow lake, Snow Lake Trail, Unicorn Creek, Unicorn Peak, Van Trump Creek, Van Trump Trail, Washington

Hiking Mt. Rainier Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Narada, Christine, Carter, Madcap, and Silver Falls (Mt. Rainier) – 08/06/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 13, 2025
1 Comment on Narada, Christine, Carter, Madcap, and Silver Falls (Mt. Rainier) – 08/06/2025

The arrival of rain showers Wednesday had led us to change our plans into a “Waterfall Wednesday”. Our plan was to visit four or five of Mount Rainier National Park’s waterfalls starting with Narada Falls. With the rain clouds overhead we got a little later start and arrived at the Narada Falls Trailhead just before 6:30am.

Located along the Paradise River a short trail drops 100′ in just over tenth of mile to a viewpoint of the 168′ waterfall.

Small cascade above Narada Falls.

The viewpoint below from the top of Narada Falls.

Paradise River

The trail down to the viewpoint. It is possible to connect to the Wonderland Trail a tenth of a mile from the viewpoint allowing for longer hikes to Reflection Lakes or the Longmire Area.

After visiting the viewpoint we returned to our car and continued driving four miles west on Paradise Valley Road to a pullout just before Van Trump Creek.

An even shorter trail here led to a viewpoint of Chrstine Falls.

There was no sign for the short, paved path.

The path dropped about 40′ in less than 100 yards to the viewpoint.

Christine Falls

After checking out Chrstine Falls we again traveled west on Paradise Valley Road to the Longmire Area. Here we planned for a more substantial hike to Carter and Madcap Falls along the Wonderland Trail. We could have followed the Wonderland Trail down from Narada Falls to visit these two falls but that was a much steeper section of the trail than coming up from below. This was our second time starting a hike from Longmire. In 2019 we did an excellent Fall hike to Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground (post).

From Longmire we followed a pointer for the Wonderland Trail near the entrance road.

We followed this short 0.1-mile connector to the actual Wonderland Trail where we forked right.

In 2019 we had returned to Longmire via the left-hand fork.

The Wonderland Trail climbed gradually through the forest with occasional glimpses of the Nisqually River for 1.6-miles to the Carter Falls Trailhead.

Red huckleberries

Huckleberries

Starting at the Carter Falls Trailhead makes the hike to Carter and Madcap Falls 2.8-miles with 660′ of elevation gain. According to the Park’s construction schedule this TH was going be closed for repaving/striping on Wednesday, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

From the Carter Falls Trailhead the Wonderland Trail dropped down to the Nisqually River where it crossed on the river on a single log footbridge.

Fireweed

Heather was not a big fan of how swiftly and close the river was flowing to the bridge.

Beyond the bridge the trail continued to climb, but now it was following the Paradise River.

There was a relatively short but steep section along this old pipe.

The steps ahead meant that we were close to Carter Falls.

Carter Falls

A tenth of a mile beyond Carter Falls the trail arrives at Madcap Falls.

Madcap Falls

We declared victory at Madcap Falls and returned the way we’d come. We had thus far avoided any heavy showers and had just experienced a light mist for most of the morning. As we neared Longmire the rain did pick up but fortunately it wasn’t long before we were back in the car.

The bridge coming from the other directon.

The Paradise River joining the Nisqually River.

Arriving back at the short connector trail to Longmire.

This hike wound up being 6.2-miles with approximately 1000′ of elevation gain.

We headed back toward Packwood with one more possible stop. Since we weren’t entirely soaked and it was still before Noon we were hoping to find a parking spot at the Grove of the Patriarchs Trailhead so we could visit Silver Falls. (We originally had also been planning on visiting the Grove of the Patriarchs, a stand of giant old growth trees, but the suspension bridge leading to the grove is damaged and that hike is currently closed.)

The busy, but not full, Grove of the Patriarchs Trailhead.

From this trailhead we crossed Stevens Canyon Road following a pointer for the Eastside Trail.

Normally a 3-mile loop is possible here, but ongoing construction had closed part of the loop near the Ohanapecosh Campground.

It was raining less here than it had anywhere else all morning allowing for a nice hike down through a beautiful forest.

Foam flower

The Ohanapecosh River was spectacularly clear and colorful.

A spur to the left leads to an overlook, but the better view is from the far side of the bridge over the river.

Silver Falls from the overlook.

For the best view skip the overlook and head for the railed section of trail across the river ahead.

The Ohanapecosh River flowing away from the bridge.

Silver Falls

This was our favorite view just uphill from the bridge.

After admiring this amazing waterfall we headed back the way we’d come. This stop was 1.6-miles and 300′ of elevation gain giving us a total of 8.3-miles and 1550′ of total elevation gain on the day.

All five of these waterfalls were worthy of a visit and this was a perfect day for it. We returned to Packwood and after hanging up our gear to dry we went out for coffee and bakery items from The Mountain Goat Coffee Company which really hit the spot. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Narada, Christine, Carter, Madcap, and Silver Falls

Tags Carter Falls, Christine Falls, hiking, Longmire, Madcap Falls, Mount Rainier National Park, Narada Falls, Nisqually River, Ohanapecosh River, Packwood WA, Paradise River, Silver Falls, The Mountain Goat Coffee Company, Washington, wonderland trail

Hiking Mt. Rainier Trip report Washington Cascades

Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain (Mt. Rainier ) – 08/05/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 12, 2025
No Comments on Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain (Mt. Rainier ) – 08/05/2025

After getting replacement tires and hiking some of the trails in the Paradise Area on Monday (post) we headed for Mount Rainier’s Sunrise Area early Tuesday morning. Timed entry reservations are required to enter the Sunrise Corridor from 7am thru 5pm in 2025, so we made sure we were plenty early to avoid needing one.

We left Packwood, WA a little before 5am and stopped at Sunrise Point just before 5:45am to catch the tail end of the actual sunrise.

Alpenglow on Mt. Rainier.

Mt. Adams behind Barrier Peak

The view NE.

After the spectacular sunrise we continued up Sunrise Road and parked near the Sunrise Visitor Center.

Our first visit to Mount Rainier had been a 4-day backpacking trip (post) on the Northern Loop which began from Sunrise. Our first 1.6-miles followed our route from that trip following a “Trail Access” pointer to a wide trail next to a signboard.

There was no fog as there had been the day before, so we had good views as we climbed through open meadows toward Frozen Lake.

Looking back at the Sunrise Day Lodge.

Western pasque flowers and Mt. Rainier.

There is good signage throughout the park.

Parry’s arnica

Pine siskin

We went left when we reached the top of Sourdough Ridge.

A short distance along the ridge we were alerted to a herd of elk below in Huckleberry Basin.

There are at least seven elk visible in this photo.

A cow and three calves.

The trail climbed up along Sourdough Ridge and past Frozen Lake to a 5-way junction. The wildflowers on this side of the mountain are not as profuse as they are in the Paradise Area but there was still a nice variety of flowers in bloom.

False hellebore

A few remaining phlox flowers.

Paintbrush and aster

Rainiera

Pearly everlasting with a few paintbrush intermixed.

Harebells

Alumroot

Goldenrod

Lousewort and partridgefoot

First pika of the day.

Golden fleabane

Dwarf lupine

Penstemon and alpine false dandelions.

Catchfly

Frozen Lake which supplies water to the Sunrise area and is off-limits to visitors.

The 5-way junction. The Wonderland Trail is the first to the left and continues straight ahead. The Burroughs Mountain Trail is the second to the left heading uphill toward Mt. Rainier. To the right is the Mount Fremont Trail.

When we hiked the Northern Loop we had gone straight on the Wonderland Trail from this junction. Today’s plan was to head right to the Fremont Lookout then return to this junction and head out the Burroughs Mountain Trail returning to Sunrise via Shadow Lake.

We headed for the Fremont Lookout which was 1.3-miles away. After a brief initial steep climb the trail eased up and gradually climbed along the open hillside.

We took the righthand fork.

Passing above Frozen Lake.

Shrubby cinquefoil

The Burroughs Mountain Trail on the far hillside.

Heading up.

Frozen Lake behind.

The Fremont Lookout at the end of the ridge ahead.

The views from this trail were impressive as was the number of pikas living along the rocky hillside.

Looking back at Mt. Rainier.

Skyscraper Mountain directly ahead.

Pika

The rock fin in the foreground was pretty cool.

Yellow-bellied marmot

Penstemon

The trail eventually came to the top of the ridge as it neared the lookout.

The lookout is on the other side of the knoll ahead.

From the ridge we could see a ridge to the east where a herd of mountain goats was hanging out.

Heather pointed out this group in the rocks.

We took a break at the lookout taking in the views. It was chilly enough that we were eventually prompted to continue on.

Mount Rainier from the Fremont Lookout. Berkley Park is the green area below where the Northern Loop Trail climbs up to meet the Wonderland Trail.

The West Fork White River (post) below to the left. The plateau to the right is Grand Park (post).

The Mount Fremont Trail along the hillside with Little Tahoma to the right.

Chipmunk. Always begging but we will not be swayed. Please do not feed the animals no matter how cute they are.

Golden-mantled ground squrriel

Rocky Mountain goldenrod and alpine sandwort.

Paintbrush

Talus collomia

We made our way back down to the Burroughs Mountain Trail and began another 1.3-mile climb to Second Burroughs Mountain.

Bird’s beak lousewort

Cusick’s speedwell and white mountain heather.

Mt. Rainier beginning to come into view.

Looking across at the Mount Fremont Trail. The lookout is visible on the left shoulder of the middle peak.

Mount Rainier and Second Burroughs Mountain from First Burroughs Mountain.

I had gotten ahead of Heather and missed a mountain goat that peered over the hillside above her on the trail.

Our return trail, the Sunrise Rim Trail, met the Burroughs Mountain Trail on First Burroughs Mountain.

Berkeley Park from First Burroughs.

The Burroughs Mountain Trail dropped to a saddle between First and Second Burroughs Mountains then made a relatively steep climb to the top of Second Burroughs Mt.

Looking back at the saddle.

Heading up Second Burroughs.

The Goat Rocks (post) to the south.

Gilbert Peak, Goat Citadel, Littel Horn, Chimney Rock and Old Snowy Mountain in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Glacier Peak to the north beyond the Fremont Lookout.

All of my maps showed the Burroughs Mountain Trail dropping down from Second Burroughs and steeply descending to the Inter Fork River below Glacier Basin, however a trail does extend to Third Burroughs Mountain. That would have added three miles and over 1150′ of cumulative elevation gain to the day. That would have been tempting had we not already hiked up to the lookout, but since we had and we had another three days of hiking ahead of us we declared victory at Second Burroughs.

First Burroughs and the Inter Fork.

Emmons Glacier

Old Desolate Mountain to the left and Sluiskin Mountain to the right.

Bench on Second Burroughs.

Not sure if this is a thrush or something else (Merlin thought it was a horned lark but that doesn’t look right at all.)

After a nice break on Second Burroughs we headed back to First Burroughs and the Sunrise Rim Trail.

Pink mountain heather

Tundra aster

Lenticular cloud forming over Mt. Rainier.

The Sunrise Rim Trail junction.

We turned right on the Sunrise Rim Trail. This trail descended for 1.4-miles to the Wonderland Trail near Sunrise Camp and Shadow Lake.

A buckwheat

The lenticular cloud was growing.

Lupine and lousewort covered the hillside in spots.

Goldenrod and yarrow

As far as I can tell this unnamed lake isn’t shown on any maps.

Silverback luina

Dwarf mountain ragwort

Narrow sepal phacelia

Sourdough Ridge ahead.

Aster

Orange agoseris

Checkerspot

As we neared the Wonderland Trail we reentered the tree line where the wildflower display really picked up.

Sunrise Camp below along with the Wonderland Trail.

Old cabin near Sunrise Camp.

The Wonderland Trail heading toward Frozen Lake.

A short distance beyond Sunrise Camp we arrived at Shadow Lake.

Bistort and other flowers at Shadow Lake.

Lupine and elephants head

Shadow Lake

We stayed on the Wonderland Trail for another 0.7-miles beyond Shadow Lake then forked left for 0.6-miles to return to the Sunrise parking area.

Cinquefoil

More clouds forming. As nice as it was today Wednesday’s forecast called for showers all day with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Clark’s nutcrackers

We forked left a second time at a junction with the Silver Forest Trail.

Sunrise Visitor Center

After dropping off our packs we took a moment to explore the Visitor Center before heading back to Packwood.

This was interesting although neither of us had it in us to actually attempt to jump.

This hike clocked in at 9.3-miles with a little over 2000′ of elevation gain.

This was another amazing hike with huge views, plenty of wildflowers, and a lot of wildlife. It was also less crowded than the Paradise Area had been. I don’t know if that is a result of the timed entry reservation system or simply our choice of trails but there were plenty of moments of solitude during this hike. We had an early dinner at Cruiser’s Pizza back in Packwood (they have a full menu in addition to pizza) and worked on finalizing our plan for Wednesday’s hikes. With rain showers in the forecast for the entire day we did some shuffling of our planned hikes and made Wednesday a waterfall Wednesday. We were happy with our new schedule for the remainder of the week and were looking forward to the rest of the hikes. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain

Hiking Mt. Rainier Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Paradise Area (Mt. Rainier) – 08/04/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 11, 2025
2 Comments on Paradise Area (Mt. Rainier) – 08/04/2025

We had planned five days of hiking in Mount Rainier National Park starting with a visit to the Sunrise Area. Those plans fell through when we experienced a flat tire on Sunday’s drive to Walupt Falls (post). In 2024 the park instituted a timed entry reservation system to help alleviate congestion in parts of the park. In 2025 the Sunrise Area was the only one subject to timed entry. Timed entry reservations are required from 7am to 5pm. Reservations are not required outside of that window however and given our penchant for early starts our plan was to arrive well before 7am.

Instead of heading to the park first thing Monday morning we were waiting for 7am when Rod’s Tire Source in Randle, WA opened. Thankfully not only did they have tires in stock that would fit our Subaru they could get us in just after 8am. That meant we should have plenty of time to still get one of our other planned hikes in. We made the 14-mile drive to Randle and the folks at Rod’s were all ready for us at 8am. They had us on our way shortly after 8:30am, and after stopping by our room to grab our packs we headed for the Paradise Area of Mt. Rainier.

The Paradise Area is possibly the most popular area at Mt. Rainier and had been subject to the timed entry reservations in 2024. Due to road and pavement projects in 2025 timed entry wasn’t applied to Paradise in 2025. By the time we reached the trailhead parking area at 9:45am it was full. Luckily there was space along a pullout between this lot and the picnic area (the picnic area acts as overflow parking).

Sign for the picnic area from the pullout.

We headed toward the picnic area the crossed the road to a set of stairs that led to the lower parking area.

The forecast had been for partly sunny skies, but the parking area was socked in with fog. We hoped that it might burn off at some point, but regardless we were excited to be getting a hike in at all given the tire issue. We stopped at a signboard and confirmed out planned route which was to hike the Skyline Trail counterclockwise.

Because we started from the lower lot we needed to take the Alta Vista Trail to the Skyline Trail.

The wildflowers were amazing from the start, and we couldn’t imagine what it would have looked like if the fog wasn’t limiting our sight distance.

When we arrived at the junction with the Avalanche Lily Trail a family mentioned that there was a doe bedded down a couple hundred feet to the left, so we detoured that way.

The doe bedded down in the wildflowers.

We kept the proper distance from the doe and used the zoom on the camera to get some photos.

After a few pics we headed back to the junction and took the Avalanche Lily Trail toward the Jackson Visitors Center where we picked up the Skyline Trail.

Jackson Visitors Center

We headed toward Myrtle Falls to do the loop counterclockwise.

Paradise Inn

A big patch of partridgefoot amid other wildflowers.

Arnica and multiple other flowers.

Shooting star

Mostly bistort

We detoured down the short path to the Myrtle Falls Viewpoint before continuing on the loop.

Myrtle Falls

Edith Creek above Myrtle Falls.

Pink monkeyflower and a speedwell.

A white field of valerian (and some bistort).

There are a number of trails crisscrossing the Paradise Area allowing for shorter loops and a lot of exploration.

Spirea

Yellow penstemon

Coiled lousewort

Arrowleaf groundsel

Bird’s beak lousewort

It wasn’t all wildflowers, but it mostly was.

Sickle-top lousewort

We ran into a small crowd gathered below a talus slope. Most of them were watching a hoary marmot but there was also a pika for those who spotted the small animal.

Pika

Marmot

The marmot was busy looking for brunch.

Tall mountain bluebells

After watching the critters for a few minutes we continued on past the parade of flowers.

Fireweed

Thistle

There were so many flowers it was impossible to catch everything but on this hillside we spotted some yellow paintbrush.

Paradise River

Paintbrush in front of western pasque flowers.

Columbine and yellow willow-herb

Pink mountain heather and lupine

Sparrow with a snack.

Bracted lousewort

Cusick’s speedwell

Golden-mantled ground squirrel.

Despite the many reminders not to feed the wildlife we witnessed several people unable to follow this simple rule (at least one of which got bit).

Phlox

Beargrass

Elephant’s head

Monkeyflower

Bird and some sort of willowherb (tiny pink flowers on the right).

Bird’s beak lousewort and white mountain heather.

First patch of snow along the trails.

Pussytoes

Cinquefoil

Western pasque flower in bloom.

Saxifrage

Marsh marigold

Catchfly

Orange agoseris

Pink monkeyflower

Littleflower penstemon

As we neared the highpoint of the loop the fog began to give way.

Golden fleabane

When the trail gained a ridge there was a slightly obscured view of Mt. Raininer.

I took a seat on a rock and watched the changing views while I waited for Heather to catch up.

The Goat Rocks on the left with Mt. Adams on the right.

I was not alone at the viewpiont.

When Heather got to my rock I left my pack with her and continued up the ridge to McClure Rock.

McClure Rock straight ahead.

Penstemon

There was a little more elevation involved than I had anticipated.

Aster and partridgefoot

Giant cairn on McClure Rock.

Climber’s trail heading toward the mountain.

A look at people on the snowfield above.

Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams from McClure Rock.

Bismark Peak to the right with Mount Aix behind Nelson Ridge.

Pussypaws

Dwarf lupine

I returned to Heather and we continued on the loop which quickly reentered the fog.

Raven

Goldenrod

Penstemon

The Panaroma Point Overlook was crowded despite being in the fog.

Back into the flowers.

Arnica, mountain heather, and lupine.

Bog laurel

Gentians

Saxifrage

The only snow remaining over the trail.

Lots of marmots along the route.

Fleabane and mountain heather

Fleabane and paintbrush

We decided to leave the Skyline Trail when we came to a junction with the Dead Horse Creek Trail

The stroller was empty, not sure what the story with that was.

The Dead Horse Creek Trail was much less used which provided a little more solitude as we headed downhill. There was not a noticeable drop off in flowers though.

Not sure what this chipmunk was eating but it wasn’t from us or any other person we saw.

We paused to watch four marmots on a rock, two of which were wrestling.

We stayed right here on the Dead Horse Creek Trail.

Flowers along Dead Horse Creek.

Nuthatch

As we neared the end of trail we spotted another deer bedded down amid the flowers.

Buck in the wildflowers

The lupine was profuse near the bottom of the Dead Horse Creek Trail.

Stairs leading to the lower parking lot.

My hike here wound up being 7.7-miles with a little over 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Before we headed back to Packwood we drove up to the upper parking lot and found a spot near the visitor’s center and went inside to grab a little food and check out the exhibits.

When we finally got back to our room we were greeted with a few elk grazing in the grass out back. (This was a regular occurrence.)

It turned out to be a great day considering we started off needing to replace our tires. Our plan was to visit the Sunrise Area on Tuesday where the forecast was for mostly sunny skies. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Paradise Area

Tags Alta Vista Trail, Dead Horse Creek Trail, Edith Creek, hiking, Jackson Visitor's Center, McClure Rock, Mount Rainier National Park, Myrtle Falls, Packwood WA, Panorama Point, Paradise, Paradise Area, Paradise River, Skyline Trail, Washington, wildflowers

Goat Rocks Hiking Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Walupt Falls and Lake – 08/03/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 10, 2025
4 Comments on Walupt Falls and Lake – 08/03/2025

After I spent a week of vacation hiking solo in July Heather joined me for an August vacation to Packwood, WA. The majority of our trip would involve hikes in Mount Rainier National Park, but on the way to our Vrbo in Packwood we took the opportunity to visit Walupt Falls aka Walupt Creek Falls. Located in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, the 220′ waterfall had been on our bucket list of waterfalls for several years, but the 4-hour drive from Salem made it too far for a day trip.

There is no official trail to Walupt Falls so there is no official trailhead. There is however a use trail that leads steeply downhill to the base of the falls from Forest Road 21 across from the Walupt Horse Camp. To reach the horse camp we turned off Highway 12 just over a mile west of Packwood onto FR 21 (Johnson Creek Road) and followed this rocky, bumpy road 16.1 miles to a junction with paved FR 2160. If you’re a long-time reader of our blog you are probably familiar with our low tire pressure adventures. We’ve had a low tire pressure light come on near the Alvord Desert in 2018, on Steens Mountain in 2021, and three different times in 2022 (Siskiyou Peak, Siskiyou Wilderness, and Russian Lake).

Once again, the dreaded light illuminated just as we reached FR 2160. I pulled over and when we got out we could immediately hear the air leaving our right front tire. We had to hop back into the car and drive a little further to find a level pullout then unload the back to retrieve the spare. After getting the tire changed we discussed what to do. Since it was Sunday the chances of us finding a business nearby that would be open was slim to none. Since we were now on a paved road and only a little over 3 miles from the Horse Camp we decided to continue with our hiking plans, and we’d deal with the tire on Monday.

We parked at a small pullout across from the Horse camp where the use trail began between some large rocks.

There was only room for a couple of cars at this pullout. Do not park in the tempting pullout on the other side of the road, there is a “No Parking” sign that isn’t immediately visible. There are other options along FR 21 or you can park at Walupt Lake (fee required) and hike the trail between the lake and horse camp.

Do not park here.

While this isn’t an official trail the falls are on some trail apps. There were varying opinions regarding how hard the route was to follow, but we didn’t have any issue following the use trail.

The route initially follows an old roadbed.

After about a quarter mile the route crosses Walupt Creek on a log.

The trail followed the creek down through the forest.

Cascade on Walupt Creek.

The Cispus River below.

Looking down Walupt Falls to the confluence of Walupt Creek and the Cispus River.

There was fairly consistent flagging along the route, but it wasn’t really necessary considering how well beaten the path was.

Walupt Falls from a viewpoint part way down to the base.

The last section of the trail down is very steep, but there was a good rope set up. (The rope was actually more helpful on the way up than down.)

Cispus River

Walupt Creek joining the Cispus River.

Frog

It was a little after 9:30am when we arrived at the base of the falls which turned out to be a really bad time for photos. The Sun was directly behind the falls and not too far above the top of the waterfall.

If our focus was more on photography than hiking we would have planned better, but that isn’t our focus. Despite the poor photography conditions the in-person experience was amazing. This was a very impressive waterfall. We slipped on our water shoes and explored the creek below the falls.

Flowers growing in the creek.

Western harebells

Fireweed

View down the creek to the Cispus River.

Hedgenettle

Heather at the base of the falls for a height reference.

There had been a couple with a dog at the falls when we arrived, but they had headed back up leaving us to enjoy the falls alone. After spending some time admiring the beautiful scene we finally tore ourselves away and headed back up ourselves. We passed several sets of hikers headed down on our way back to our car so we were thankful to have had the solitude.

Our original plan had been to drive on to Walupt Lake and hike the Walupt Lake Trail to the Pacific Crest Trail. Given that we were using our spare tire we decided not to move the car and adjust our plan to hiking the connector trail between the Horse Camp to the Lake and then hiking a short distance along the Walupt Lake Trail. After making sure all the remaining tires appeared fine we crossed FR 21 and picked up the connector trail near the Horse Camp outhouse.

The outhouse through the trees ahead.

We followed this connector nearly a mile to Walupt Lake.

We went around this spider web.

Twinflower

White-veined wintergreen

We walked past the boat ramp and through the day use area to pick up the Walupt Lake Trail.

Walupt Creek leaving the lake.

Map, info and permits for the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Entering the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Given our check in time was 3pm we decided to hike until 12-12:30 and then turn around knowing we had at least an hour-long drive to Packwood.
The trail passed through the forest a little away from the lake which meant that views were limited, but near the far end of the lake we took a spur trail downhill to a sandy beach where we took a short break before heading back.

Oregon sunshine

View across Walupt Lake.

Yarrow and pearly everlasting

Paintbrush

Prickly currant

Lakeview Mountain as we were leaving the lake.

Our hike as approximately 7.3-miles with a little under 1000′ of elevation gain.

We carefully drove the rough road back to Highway 12 with the low tire pressure light still on due to the presence of the spare which didn’t help me feel confident that we’d know if another tire was having an issue. Our prayers were answered, and we successfully made it to the Chevron in Packwood where Heather got some information on where we might be able to get replacement tires while I filled the gas tank.

After checking into our Vrbo we walked to the Blue Spruce Saloon and Diner for dinner and came up with Plans A-D for the rest of the week. The biggest question marks were whether or not any of the local businesses would have tires in stock and if they did when would they be able to fit us in. It was literally a rocky start to the trip, but Walupt Falls had not disappointed. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Walput Falls and Lake

Tags Blue Spurce Saloon and Diner, Goat Rocks Wilderness, hiking, Packwood WA, Walput Creek, Walput Creek Falls, Walput Falls, Walput Horse Camp, Walput Lake, Walput Lake Trail, Washington