Shriner Peak Lookout

Here's a the video I made for this trip

This morning I headed to Mt Rainier National Park with the intent to reach the lookout that sits 5864' above sea level and offers great views of the east side of Mt Rainier.

I left the trailhead at 6:30 and plunged into the dense lush forest.

There was plenty of dew to cover the plant life and to saturate my pant legs as I made my way up the trail.

Reminders of logging days flanked the trail as back in those days they would make notches in the trees for their springboards so they could fell big trees.

I passed through fields of Beargrass that were in full bloom.

I made my way over some snow patches and before long, the lookout was in sight.

All 4 of the lookouts in Mt Rainier National Park are a 2 story cab design with a catwalk that is open to the public all the time. 

From up here I could see Mt Adams, Mt Hood and even Mt St Helens.

The hike and time and the lookout was just over 4 hours but worth the drive for sure. After this hike I drove down to Ohanapecosh for a trip to Grove of the Patriarchs. More on the later :-)

Copper Mt and Cub Peak

We started our day at the Staircase Ranger Station up the very steep trail up to Wagonwheel Lake.

The trail starts put steep and keeps it up all the way to the lake. From the lake we headed west and quickly the trail faded into nothing. From there it was off trail and finding our own route.

We made good time getting through and found ourselves in a basin with some snow cover.

With views of the mountain we made our way to the western edge and scrambled along the ridge, through notches and under overhangs. We found the summit with good views around.

With our desire to pack multiple peaks into a trip, we followed the ridge to the east to verify elevations and check out the views over there.

Satisfied that then first summit was higher we took a snack break and discussed our next course of action.

We traversed east a bit more then dropped down into the basin and back to the lake. Our next stop would be Cub Peak. This peak had a boot path all the way up to the cruddy choss section that lay between us and the summit.

We each took our own path through the loose stuff and soon we were safely on the summit.

More snacks were enjoyed and so were the views. At this point the sky started to clear up, but not completely. 

Being surrounded by such beautiful mountains is an amazing experience that I enjoy every time I reach the top of a summit. It's hard to think that I'll soon be moving away from this as I prepare to get married and join my fiancé in Ohio next month. 

We descended the summit with ginger steps over the chossy junk and rejoined the trail back to the lake. From the lake is was another painstaking 3200' of descent over 2.9 miles. My quads were sore by the time we reached the car, but it was a rewarding pain.