The parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 8:45 a.m. today. On nice winter weekends, expect lots of people. Fortunately, people were spread out on the trail. The trail is in great shape, with no under-overs anywhere. We could still see evidence of new fall-downs from recent windstorms but King County/WTA have done a great job clearing the trail.
Seven of us started our trip at 9 sharp and returned to the cars at 12:40. No parking permits were needed. Bird species included a red-breasted sapsucker, tons of golden-crowned kinglets, a towhee, and a downy woodpecker among the seven species.
Not a drop of rain, just some dripping from the trees. Most participants had trekking poles. Some hikers behind us were calling out "bear" but we didn't see, hear, or note any evidence of any so I'm thinking it was a false alarm or they were messing around. No view of Rainier but we had a lovely outing with good conversation.
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