Comet Falls, Van Trump Park — Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025

I clicked fall foliage in the highlights section. Oh my goodness, the leaves are starting to turn. The Comet Falls trail is a rocky, rooty climb. There are high step ups, a crib staircase with no railing, and a cool log bridge with a single handrail. The wildflowers are minimal to Comet Falls but the berries are going to town. There are still some late season bursts of color, but you won't get your wildflower fix if you are only going to Comet Falls. No blowdowns or washouts. Almost no trash! 

The trail up to Van Trump is the story of steps. A lot of steps. I thought maybe the one really high step up that is basically half your height had been tended to. But then there it was, worse than before. This isn't an easy trail. But you will get your wildflower fix for sure. So much lupine! There was a large herd of mountain goats around 6000ft that prevented me from continuing on. I decided to give them their space and turn around. Maybe I was pooped too because I gave in real easy. The true story is that I was watching the goats move down toward the trail...toward me and I turned and saw a light tan animal on a rock. In my imagination it was a cougar staring at me. I think it was an elk in reality but the damage was done. I was alone and got spooked and had the jitters. So I turned back. Once I turned back the goats went back up the hillside. I had great chats with fellow hikers. One couple told me about a black bear off in the distance, so I parked myself on a rock and watched the dancing black dot while I had my lunch. The beautiful places we have have our lunches, right? 

Last thing:

Looks like there are a bunch of closures at the mountain this coming week. Here's the link to see where the closures are happening: Park Contruction-Mount Rainier