We have passed the signs many times but never hiked to Carter Falls. We entered the park at 4:58am and began our hike to Carter Falls from Longmire at 5:22am. The temps were nice and no bugs. We did not see anyone on the trail until the return trip when we passed a couple who were taking photos at the river crossing.  After that we passed two separate park rangers on the Wonderland between Cougar Rock Campground and Longmire.

The hike to Carter and Madcap falls was straight forward and the trail is in great shape.  We can now check this hike off the list!

Next stop- Paradise.

Since our hike and the road were both so quiet we wondered what it would be like up at Paradise with the timed entry now in effect.  We threw out our guesses as to whether Paradise would be a. not too busy b. regular-busy or c. a madhouse.   The answer came quickly as the overflow lot was mostly full.  We opted to continue on to the main lot in hopes of finding a parking spot.  There was one open spot, which we missed... but someone was leaving as we looped around and ended up with a great spot at 8:14am. We began by heading toward Myrtle Falls, then back the other way to jump on the Alta Vista trail.  The lower sections are partially melted out, the snow crossings we encountered were easily managed with poles, however there were several spots that are sure to collapse soon so step with care.

Some of the early wildflowers such as avalanche and glacier lilies are up, along with western pasqueflower.  Not much in the wildlife department besides the marmots who were very active- running, playing, munching foliage and of course splooting. 

There were some friendly bees or flies that didn't bite or sting but did want to land on us.  We did not hear any mosquitoes.  There was a welcome breeze that was nice given the warm temperatures.

After hanging out in the shade of the VC for lunch we headed out. 

Next stop- Ohanapecosh River for some heat relief.  We were suprised at how few cars were park at the Grove of the Patriarch's lot.  We parked and headed down the Eastside trail to access the river.  It's pretty darn cold!  but it was pretty darn hot out so ....

Hello WTA members! I'm from out of state but found your trip reports invaluable when planning my first trip to Rainier this past weekend. Your reports gave us the confidence to do the Skyline trail and we couldn't be happier that we did! Hopefully, this report will in turn be useful to all of you.

To start, we had no problems getting up to Paradise. We had a reservation for 7-9AM and got to the Nisqually entrance around 8:15-8:30. Because we had a reservation and parks pass already, the ranger fast-tracked us through and we didn't end up having to wait at all! We got up to Paradise around 9:15 and found a spot in the lower overnight lot with no problems.

The park representative stationed by the map outside the visitor's center was giving tips about current conditions. We were originally only planning on going to Panorama Point, so that's what we asked about. Because we told them we had spikes and poles, they let us know that we'd have no problem. That being said, they said they weren't encouraging people to do the whole Skyline trail at the time. Sure enough, in the visitor's center was a map outlining "Danger!" zones past the intersection with the Golden Gate trail (see attached photos).

We headed up to the Panorama Point trail and ended up putting our spikes on pretty quick. The trail alternated between snow and pavement for a good while, but eventually the snow won out. The route was pretty crowded, but not to the point of being unenjoyable. Route-finding was no trouble as orange poles marked the whole way up. Our spikes and poles were absolutely essential to having a good time! We saw many a hiker without them, but they were slipping and sliding the whole way up – needless to say the way down would be a struggle.

We got to Panorama Point around noon (we're not particularly fast hikers) and were treated to a wonderful view! We could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and (most of) Mt. St. Helens. We really lucked out with the visibility!

After making it to Panorama Point with no issues and having gotten some encouragement from other parties, we decided to continue on the Skyline Trail. Things definitely got rougher beyond Panorama Point – we encountered steeper climbs and descents, plus some sections where glissading was all but necessary. That being said, we have very minimal snow travel experience and still had an excellent time! At no point did we feel scared or unsafe. Some parts of the trail are melted out, but most of it is still snow-covered. The route also was not marked past Panorama Point, though there was almost always a boot trail to follow. When there wasn't, I used my phone's GPS and some downloaded maps to navigate and had no problems.

The trickiest part was probably right past the intersection with the Golden Gate trail, where we switched to that trail instead of continuing on Skyline. There's a steep part where if you lost control you'd end up tumbling down some steep rocky terrain. It's not too hard to manage, but the exposure made me think twice. After watching a few other groups go through, we gained the confidence to try ourselves and did so with no issues.

We walked down a brief melted-out portion of the Golden Gate trail, where a few early flowers are blooming! After that short stretch, we glissaded most of the way down toward Myrtle Falls. Encountering the crowds again was a bit of a shock! We'd only seen a handful of groups between Panorama Point and the falls (though we were never alone – there was always at least one other group in sight). Back at Myrtle Falls, though, we were back in the crowds.

Throughout the hike, we were visited by some bee-like bugs that I'm pretty sure were just flies. They were a little pesky but did no real harm.

Overall, this hike was a ton of fun, even for some novice snow explorers! The right gear and preparation made a huge difference and we had a great time.

Incredible day at Rainier- the mountain was out and so was the sun and all the fall colors! A bit icy in the morning on the pavement and once you hit Golden Gate or Skyline it’s snowy. Especially once you get higher. Happy to have yaktrax! We did the clockwise loop found in the Fall Color Hikes Washington book and found the most fall color when we got to the south side of the Skyline loop trail. The snow was not so much present there for the last mile and a half or so and it was lovely! Enjoy while you can!

I'm back to one hike on the weekends and decided to attempt solitude in the din of Paradise. I went up Golden Gate in the dark. It was just me, the ice clattering in my water bottle, and the mountain slowly brightening. I saw headlamps way up on the Alta Vista trail and heard faraway laughter of sunrise watchers on High Skyline, but they were not detractors from the need to allow the chaos of the school week to settle like sand in the ocean after a series of waves. By the time I made it up to High Skyline, my solitude along with the gentle dim light was gone. The people were all friendly even the rule breakers. I wonder if it's a strange concept to newcomers, the vast land of the mountain and the idea of going where your feet can take you, but don't go there or there, and follow the stone path, and don't climb over the ropes, you're in the wilderness, but don't be wild. So it was an introspective day on the mountain with a ton of "good mornings" in the mix. Happy hiking!

With clouds bringing the summit views in and out, and with a few thousand of my closest friends, I hiked from the Jackson Visitor's Center at Paradise up the Waterfall Trail west to beautiful Deadhorse Creek Trail to Glacier Vista. From Glacier Vista, joined the much more crowded west Skyline trail to Panorama Point. Thank you social media for the crowd-sourcing. (The day before, I hiked Eagle Peak trail and saw no other hikers.) Then upper Skyline to Golden Gate trail, and down Golden Gate to Myrtle Falls and back along to Paradise east Skyline. Cold and windy at Panorama Point and glad to have a puffy jacket and parka. Warm and balmy back down at Paradise. A young black bear was browsing near Waterfall trail, and three deer were doing the same west of Deadhorse Trail. A lone mountain goat was wandering on slopes below Pan Point. Lots of marmots and chipmunks. Someone described seeing a fisher! Wildflowers are mostly going to seed, with some still in bloom, especially right at Paradise along the road. Skyline is getting loved to death,with lots of off-trail tromping killing vegetation and creating scars. Good to see the newly defined semi-circle lunch spots with big rock "benches".