Union Creek — Friday, Jun. 21, 2019

My work party buddy and I came down here a day early in anticipation of doing some hiking before a work party. The Tipsoo Lake loop was socked in and had too much snow, so we came down here. We wish we would have started earlier. This is a nice little hike, even tho much of the first couple of miles is in burned forest. We did not make it in to the big waterfall at 2 miles, started late and ran out of time, as we had to set up camp. The highlight of the hike was the beautiful big waterfall shortly after starting. There are a couple of viewpoints veering off the main trail to the left. They are steep and somewhat treacherous, and, as stated in the guide, have kids and dogs under tight control. After waterfall viewing, we hiked up the ridge trail, where we saw a few mtn views, but nothing to wow us much. We ended our hike about 1 1/2 miles in at a big washout. The washout can be scrambled down easily, and we could have done it if we would have had an earlier start. This is a nice hike, worth taking if your Mt Rainier hikes are too busy or too snowy, or socked it.