Tolmie Peak Lookout - Eunice Lake — Saturday, May. 28, 2005

Mount Rainier Area > NW - Carbon River/Mowich

Sally and I headed down to Mt. Rainer NP for a day in the mountains. We picked the Tolmie Peak hike as neither of us had been up there before. The gravel road up to Mowich Lake off State Highway 165 was fogged in and we had to drive slower in a few spots the see the road. Once up the the parking lot at Mowich Lake, the sun was out. We followed the Wonderland Trail along the lake and on to the junction at Ipsut Pass. From here the trail losses elevation before getting to a nice water fall on Meadow Creek, then more uphill to Eunice Lake. We stopped for a bite to eat at the lake, which still has a foot or two of snow to hike on along the south side. You can see the lookout out tower high above, built in 1935, from the lake. Once past the last inlet stream, the snow is gone the rest of the way to the summit of Tolmie Peak at 5,939' A volunteer ranger was at the lookout tower for the day. We where high above the clouds and had a great view of Rainer, Eunice Lake done below and other peaks all around us. Even with the sun out, the temp at the lookout read 62 degrees. After eatting the rest of our lunch and taking several photos, we headed back down. Clouds started blowing in and the temp dropped, when we got back to the junction with the WL trail near Ipsut Pass it was 50 degrees. Only saw about a dozen other hikers, a few chipmunks, one Clarks Jay and some butterflies on this day. The wild flowers are also popping out too. Check out Tolmie Peak for some wonderful scenic views.