It was a dreary rainy and smoky day when I stopped by Naches Peak at the end of a day of hiking many other trails in the area. It was hardly the right conditions to give this trail its due, but I knew this trail was much loved and didn't know when else I'd get a chance to visit it, so we stopped on the way back to our lodging at Crystal Mountain.
We parked near Tipsoo Lake, which was a nice spot even in the conditions, though water was fairly low in the lake. You could tell from the surrounding peaks and the water why this was considered a special hike, even without a huge amount of wildflower action. From there we did the uphill climb and reached the road, where quite a few people, including ourselves, were a bit confused as to where to go, as there is a spiderweb of trails here, and nothing indicates specifically where the Naches Peak Loop goes - at least in this direction. I consulted maps on my phone, as I had downloaded offline maps before my trip, and got my orientation and was able to help others. We went for a bit across the road, but didn't end up venturing too far, as even though we had been hiking in the Rainier area for two days now there was much more smoke in the area than others we had been in- in fact my eyes were burning by the time we got back to the car. We're both sensitive to smoke in our lungs, and had bigger hikes planned the next two days, so it didn't seem worth it to hike in such cloudy, obscured weather to our detriment. There was evidence that it might rain soon, and that turned out to be the case as a very cold rain greeted us a short time later.
I did visit the lake across the road from Tipsoo before leaving. This one had a nice view at the base of a very tall peak, and I was glad to have visited.
I wish I could have had more time to really see this one in good conditions. From what little I was able to see, I can understand why its such a loved trail.
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