After a week in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness my buddy Jeno and I returned to Mt Rainier this morning for an order of Naches (Peak) and a side of Dewey (Lakes). We arrived at the Tipsoo Lake parking area at 6:00AM. The sky was just getting light as we started out heading clockwise on the Naches Peak trail. The bathrooms were open and stocked with TP but not very clean.
Right as we approached Highway 410 to cross the bridge Jeno hollered out "look!" We had bisected a small herd of deer which was really cool. The way they looked at us and split up with some passing us and others waiting for us to go by. It was a really neat way to start the hike. On the drive down we had discussed if we would see any PCT thru hikers on the trail and we did within the first 15 minutes. We ended up chatting with Assassin, so named because she slices up the miles. She was the first of 5 thru hikers we saw today. We ended up talking to three other ones, Chipmunk, Floss and Footglove (the latter two a married couple). It was interesting to ask them about their journeys this year and how close they all are to finishing. Best of luck to all of you on your journeys north this month.
We ended up making the side trip on the PCT down to Dewey Lakes (plural as there are two lakes) and spent some time at a campsite I had stayed at years ago and also talked a lot to Chipmunk who was on his way north. After a refreshing break we headed back up the PCT to continue on the Naches Peak loop trail. For such a popular hike we were really surprised to only see 3 other hikers this morning. So 8 total counting the PCT thru hikers.
I would highly recommend going clockwise on the Naches Peak loop as you have Mt Rainier in front of you heading back to the parking area near Tipsoo Lake. As you head west on the trail the views to the south open up as well so you can see Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and even the lookout tower atop Shriner Peak.
We arrived back to the half full parking lot at Tipsoo Lake around 10:00 AM so it took us about four hours including the Dewey Lakes trip. For the first time this year on one of excursions to the eastside of Mt Rainier we did hit road work (we've been lucky so far this year) on the drive home just past the Crystal Lakes Trailhead. We were stopped about 10 minutes so that wasn't too bad.
Stay safe everyone. See you on the trail. SR
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