I met up with crwdog and Mrs crwdog at the Nisqually entrance to Mt Rainier National Park for the purpose of a little snowshoeing. We selected the Narada Falls to Reflection Lake and Louise Lake trip. The weather started out partly cloudy, and gradually improved all day. We hit the ""trail"", under six feet of snow, at 11 am, and headed up the steep switchbacks through the forest up to the Stevens Canyon road high above. There is a nice compacted path to follow, plus the trail is marked by occasional orange poles, so route-finding wasn't an issue. When we got up to the road, a sign directed us to use the Mazama Ridge trail if we wanted to bypass an avalanche pathway above Narada Falls. The trail climbs up and over Mazama Ridge, sometimes getting pretty steep, but not a problem. There were some nice views from the top. The way drops into a large meadowy area, then down again to Reflection Lake, not very reflective today! We took a break to allow Gray Jays to attack us while eating. Ever seen the movie ""The Birds""? It was nothing like that(lol). We then headed over to Louise Lake, and got some other nice folks to take pictures of us while we took pictures of them, etc. All this time Rainier was hiding his head in the clouds, but I saw a few breaks coming, or so I claimed later. We decided we had skimmed the cream off the top of this hike already, so we hot-footed(?) it back to the cars by the quicker route, around Inspiration Point on the road. More great views, and a ranger told us the route was currently safe enough for travel. We saved enough time from our decision to bail on the first hike to allow us to go up to Paradise and snowshoe over to the Nisqually glacier overlook. I found a nice viewspot of Rainier, now in the clear, and I called it good right there. The hill down to the glacier viewpoint looked mighty steep for my then-tired legs, but the crwdog family had gas still in their tanks, so they went on while I relaxed. When they came back up the hill, they had to leave to eat some home-made manicotti, so we bid each other our fond farewells. I stayed in the viewspot another hour, until the sunset colors faded from the mountain's side, wishing I had some manicotti. Sigh. Total distance, first hike: 5 miles, 900 vf gain. Second hike (from upper parking lot): 1.5 miles, 250 vf gain. Awesome day!

My friend Ari and I went to the Park with the intention of heading up towards Eagle Saddle, and maybe getting a view of something big through the clouds. By the time we got to Longmire the views were long gone and the avalance danger ""high"" above 4000'. So, we shifted gears by driving to Narada Falls and snowshoeing to Reflection Lakes via Mazama Ridge, and then continuing along the road to the creek crossing above Louise lake. It snowed a lot! About 3-4 inches of snow collected in the bed of my truck during the 4 hours we were gone. The path was well packed by shoers and skiers alike all the way to Reflection Lakes - beyond that we were breaking trail in nearly-knee deep powder. After a soggy lunch at the bridge above Louise Lake we headed back via Inspiration Point. Not a lot of elevation gain, and our route was largely wide and flat. Easy day for the most part. 4 hours out in the snow. About 4-5 miles round-trip.

Gary and I left Box Canyon at about 1030 AM and headed up Steven’s Canyon. There were lots of views of the creek and a couple of nice waterfalls; gradually The Mountain came into view as we crossed a number of slide areas. We crossed the Steven’s Canyon road after a 4 miles or so and headed up to the relatively open area around Louise Lake. A little farther on (5 or 6 miles from Box Canyon, and after about 3 hours of walking) we got to Reflection Lakes, the roadside, the crowds, and lunch. After a nice long break, we ducked back in to the woods and made our way to Narada Falls, more crowds and our bikes. We then donned sneakers (I was happy to have dragged them along) and helmets and rode about 10 miles back to the car at Box Canyon – with me pumping the brakes the whole way. Weather was excellent – very warm with few clouds. Misquotes were very active, and we saw deer tracks almost the entire length of the trail. Saw a ptarmigan (sic) and crow fighting in the woods, and saw 2 eagles at Reflection Lakes. Only a few tiny snow patches were visible near the trail. Prior to reaching the lakes, we saw only about 5 other hikers (4 in one group). By the looks (and odor) of some of the hikers, it appears that the Wonderland Loop season is underway. I’m jealous! :-) Great trip. Total distance approximately 8 miles from Box Canyon to Narada Falls, with a 10 mile bike trip back on the road. It took about 4 ½ hours for the hike (including breaks), and 1 hour for the ride back.

This was probably the best snowshoeing hike I've ever done. We followed the winter recreation map we got from the ranger at Longmire, and parked at Narada Falls. The trail is not marked any longer this year and so we had to look closely for others' tracks, but it wasn't too difficult. The best part of the hike was climbing to Inspiration Saddle--the view of the Mountain there was spectacular--in fact, all the views on the hike were remarkable. After reaching the saddle we descended to Reflection Lake (I think it is about 1.5 miles from Narada Falls to the Lake). We never saw anyone else the whole time we were walking. It was wonderful to sit alongside the frozen expanse of the lake and be in absolute isolation. It's so different from the way it looks in Summer with all the cars speeding by and the hordes of people. When we reached the lake we could see that the Stevens Canyon road was completely bare--it must have been plowed, although it is still closed. I wonder if they are planning on opening it earlier this year'

Three of us, two over 50 and one over 60, started out Saturday about noon after a stop at the Eatonville Bakery for a ""susquatch paw"" and coffee. Chains or 4 WD were required from Nisqually Glacier on up. Only three cars in the parking lot at Narada Falls. It took us about 30 minutes to get all our gear on and our snowshoes strapped on. It was snowing lightly and the trees were covered with a beautiful coating of new snow. The trail was broken all the way to Reflection Lakes. Thank goodness! The snow got deeper the closer we got to the lakes. Had a late lunch huddled in the trees around the lake and were back to the car by 3:30. Nice outting, fresh air, a foot or more of new snow and NO PEOPLE. Two guys on skis passed us by and were remarking on how no one skis anymore. I have only been snowshoeing because I was waiting for enough snow to bring out the skis. Although I will still have to snowshoe occasionally because one of my friends I go with does not ski. Was sure nice to be in the mountains after having a couple of weekends of Christmas tasks.

Did this snowshoe trip from Dan Nelson's guidebook. Clear, sunny weather. Got a late start (1pm) from the Narada Falls parking area, and having never done this trip before, made big mistake by not asking folks where the blazed regular trail begins. Should have taken that route! Instead, thought I could follow a ski track, in trees, to the left of a posted avalanche-prone very steep hill above the maintenance shed. Things were ok until about 2/3rds way up, when the snow became terrible, having no consistantcy, the top foot or so just sloughing off, sliding away in small slabs-yikes!Thought I had made a decent decision by sticking to the trees,away from the steep,open slope but instead was in quite a predicament, struggling to keep from sliding down a very steep slope studded with trees to slam into. Managed to keep my wits & slowly dug out a wider platform along the ski tracks to inch up this switchbacking path. Must have taken an hour to reach the Paradise-Stevens Canyon road that was my intended trail. Would have been well on my way to the Lakes if I had taken the normal route! Once I got atop the hill, it's a fairly flat, routine hike, and much scenery to enjoy! Of course, I broke out the guidebook after that and was reminded that my route wasn't recommended unless the snow was stable & not deep-- it pays to listen to these folks! I could have very easily slid down among those trees and really hurt myself bad-- so I'm fortunate to hopefully learn from this! Even a fairly easy outing can be trouble if you aren't careful.