My feet hurt! We spent Saturday hiking. After a pancake breakfast we drove about 45 minutes up Mount Rainier to Sheep Lake Hike. There was a bit of wildfire smoke as we drove but the higher we got, the better the air was. It was a pretty, warm day. The drive was scenic and winding through the forest with big open areas of steep valleys and huge craggy mountains. There was a little bit of snow on Mount Rainier!
There were two parking lots at the trailhead and it was full when we got there around 10am. The bathrooms were all locked and there were no garbage cans. Weird. That was a bit of a bummer.
This trail was dog friendly, and those ones are few and far between in National Parks. It was a popular hike!
We started the trail to the right, where most people were going. It was literally a trail clinging to the side of the mountain. It was really high up with a sheer cliff on one side. It was NOT a good hike for small children or people with a fear of heights! It was making me a bit nervous. I didn’t get great photos because I was so busy paying attention to Logan! But trust me, it was a bit scary.
We ended up turning around. We took the other fork in the road at the parking lot and that part of the trail was MUCH better! No sheer cliffs.
This part of the trail was kind of short. There was another fork in the trail. One way went down into a canyon of wildflowers and it looked sooo cool! But that part of the trail said no dogs. 🙁 I believe it was the trail that connected to the Naches Peak Loop Trail which had some water features.
So we took the other trail that crossed a bridge over the highway and connected to the Pacific Crest Trail:
This part of the trail was pretty cool and felt a lot safer. Very scenic!
It was getting hot and we were all getting hungry so we turned around and headed back to the car and drove back down the mountain.
That hike was 2.21 miles.
Next stop: Packwood Lake Trail. We had a picnic lunch and then started on the hike. We were low on water and it was getting hot but the trail was almost entirely shaded, so that was good. We didn’t do a ton on this particular trail. There was no way we were going to make it the 4-ish miles to the lake (bummer) and we were all getting a bit tired.
The hike started out a bit steep at the very beginning but then the incline was pretty gradual.
We did 2 miles on this hike too. So in two days we hiked almost 9 miles. Which is a lot for Logan! We were all tired Saturday. Showers, relaxing and then BBQ chicken for dinner and early to bed! But not before we checked out a gnome/fairy garden near the house we were renting. It was SO cool!! Here are a few pics:
The garden was pretty and fun and there were Christmas Lights up everywhere.
Sunday we were all up fairly early and got ready to go home. We had a lot to do to get ready for KINDERGARTEN starting!!!! (WOW)
Thankfully the drive back to Portland was good and pretty quick. We had such a good time exploring an area that we hadn’t seen before and it was nice having my parents visit.
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