With a widespread smoke and haze in the forecast, I decided to go for a hike to a fire lookout or a lake. This one has both. Try to check air quality before you go. The air quality was moderate before I left. I could smell a little smoke but I felt fine when I was there.
Road and Parking: I did not realize that I had to go through the park entrance so there was around 45 mins wait and the ranger did check my ID and my pass. Parking lot was almost full when I got there at noon, although there was enough space on the side of the road for parking. The road was the typical forest gravel road. No major potholes, just washboard surface and all vehicles can make it.
Trail: As others have said, the majority of the hike was on a gravel Westside road. I clocked 3.78 mi hike in to the actual trailhead from where I parked. There's a bike rack to lock the bike if you brought one.
On a hazy and a hot day like today, this hike was perfect. It's shaded most of the way to the lookout and you could dip in Lake George. There's a peek-a-boo view of Rainier on your left when you're on the actual trail.
The hike was straightforward. There were trailmarkers, the ground was pretty dry, there were not many exposed roots and it never felt too steep. For this reason, I think this hike is family friendly. I met three separate group of hikers with young kids that looked younger than 10. They looked pretty cheerful for such a long hike 😀.
Bring enough water as the only water source would be Tahoma Creek at the beginning of the hike and Lake George. There's a little pond that almost dried up at around 4800ft but I personally would not want to filter water from there.
The view from the lookout was gorgeous. You could see Rainier right in your face although it's a little hazy. Other reviewers mentioned that you could see St Helens, Adams and even Hood, but unfortunately I did not see them today.
I tried to eat my lunch at the lookout but there were so many bees that I decided to leave and hike down.
It took me 4 hours and 42 mins for the whole hike and I clocked 12.81 mi round trip.
Overall: This hike was not as bad as I thought. I had the trail mostly to myself and it's so peaceful. After this hike, I can say I have done all 7 Mount Rainier Fire Lookouts, with Sun Top being the hardest as I did it in the winter 🙂
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