Skyline Trail Loop — Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025

- Breathtakingly gorgeous. The flowers are out in full bloom! And the clouds parted long enough to see the whole of Rainier/Tahoma which was amazing. No forest cover at all, definitely bring a hat and sunscreen (and reapply it at the midpoint, I’m not even kidding).

- It was of course very busy on this lovely Sunday. There was no parking at the visitor center when we arrived at 11 am, but we got parking further down the road at the lot near 4th Crossing Trail. We hiked from there up the road to the visitor center to start the hike, then cut the loop short at the end by taking 4th back down to the parking lot. It was actually really great to finish the hike right at the car.

- The chipmunks are BOLD. No fear or self-preservation skills whatsoever. I sat down twice the whole hike, once at a bench area maybe 30 minutes into the hike and once at Panorama Point, and both times a chipmunk climbed right onto my lap! (No, I didn’t feed them. Don’t feed wild animals!)

- Lower Skyline looked unsafe so we took Upper Skyline from Panorama which added more distance and elevation than we had planned for, but the ten year old was a trooper.

- Coming back down from Upper Skyline, an excess of dust, sand, and loose rocks made for unsteady footing. Hiking poles highly recommended if you are unsteady on your feet like me.

- We spent about 5.5 hours total of hiking on road + trail, plus a three hour drive each way to get to Rainier from home, so it was a very long day, but oh so worth it!