(For Part One of this trip, see Trip Report for Rainier View on 8-3-08)

Monday I hiked with my friend Yetiman and Daisy the wonder dog, going Corral Pass to Noble Knob. It's a nice walk, pretty flat in stretches, smooth trail, shady a good part of the way, good views of Rainier. We did the 4 miles from our campsite to the knob in just 2 hours and 15 minutes. That includes several breaks for water, photography, cooling off, etc, so I was happy with the speed. There are so many flowers out right now that the hike is especially nice. We took in the fabulous views from the knob for two hours, then made the return hike in 1 hour 45 minutes. The campground was completely deserted when we got back.

After dinner we went back to the Noble Knob trail and walked back a mile or so to see the sunset and Mt Rainer. It was well worth it! We spent another night of fun in the woods, including a midnight ""star stroll"".

If you go to Noble Knob, the best photography is in the morning, with the sun behind you as you face Mt Rainier.

Pictures can be seen at www.flickr.photos/slugman

Hiked Noble Knob on Saturday. Started late (10:30am). The trail is in great condition. Just had to hop over 2-3 small trees across the trail, nothing big. The weather was kind of cool so there were no bugs out. Could see Mt. Rainier about half-way up the trail, but by the time we got to Noble Knob, it was all fogged in and we couldn't see anything except down in the valley. Passed three bear hunters on the way up. EVERYBODY MAKE SURE TO WEAR BRIGHT COLORS WHILE HIKING!!! We saw no bear and also missed the White River elk herd that we heard was bedded down earlier in the morning. The hike is only 7 miles round trip, but it was harder than I thought it would be. There were a few steep hills. I thought that it would be just a half day hike, but ended up being a full day hike for us. But, the wild flowers were beautiful and it was a great day!

Weather was perfect for this hike full of beautiful views of mountains and valleys, not to mention all the wild flowers that are in bloom this time of year - Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Phlox, Daisies, etc. WOW! The nicely maintained trail winds through the forests and openness and is mostly flat with a couple steep areas that will get your heart pumping. There were a couple of minor blowdowns about 2.5 & 3 miles in but they can be stepped over. Great views along the way and from the top consisted of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Stuart, Lost & George Lakes, etc. This is definitely a hike to pack a camera.

We reached the trailhead at 9:30 AM. We managed to pick a Saturday when there was a 50 mile race consisting of about 300 runners. With 2 dogs and the basically single file trail for the first mile, the maneuverability was a bit cumbersome until the runners detoured away from the Noble Knob route. The rest of the way was not too populated and it wasn’t until we were close to Noble Knob before we met up with any other hikers. Once on top, there were just a few of us enjoying panoramic mountain views while having lunch. On the return trip down we met up with a few mountain bikers. All in all, very enjoyable!

It is probably the 6 mile rough road leading up to the trailhead that keeps the crowd down, but if you are in an SUV as we were, you’ll have no problem making the grade as long as you go slow and watch for the ruts, etc. The sedans would probably bottom out on some rocky areas of the road.

Put this one on your list!

Alpine Art and Truck'in Tom did the Noble Knob hike for the first time on Wednesday. The trail is in excellent condition with two minor blow downs about 2.5 to 3.0 miles into the hike. Both can be stepped over. All the snow has melted from the trail and the wildflowers were out Indian Paint Brush, Lupine, Phlox, and many others. The weather was overcast and quite cool (about 47 oF at the trail head). The views were limited by the overcast which started at about 10,000 feet at the beginning of our hike and lowered to 6,000 feet when we got to Noble Knob. The bad news was the views were limited; the good news was that the hike was cool, more like fall than mid summer. We did see Lost and George Lakes from Noble Knob and the White River valley which we drove up. Much of Rainier was in the clouds the entire trip. Some things to note about the hike are (1) get a Green Trails Lester WA map (# 239) and not the Bumping Lake Map noted recently in the WTA hike of the week (2) the Green Trails map shows two possible trails out of the Corral Pass area, take the trail which starts on the Western end of the parking area, it is a gentle up hill versus the steep uphill that goes to a ridge and from the ridge connects to the main trail. We did both coming down on the more gentile grade trail.

This is definitely a hike to do for the next week or so while the flowers are out.

Now for the Road Report, FS Road 7174 is a primitive but relatively good road. It does have rocky, rutted and pothole sections but it definitely is not the worst road I have driven. Alpine Art bought a Honda CRV and it handled the road without difficulty. Many passenger sedans could make the trip but low slung vehicles like a VW Bug, Honda Civic Hybrid etc should not go on this road, it is estimated that a vehicle needs to have between 6 and 9 inches of ground clearance to avoid bottoming out on FS 7174.

Finally, there were a pair of sunglasses and auto keys (keys are likely to a Chrysler Brand vehicle) were at the trail head on a tree limb going to the more level western trail.