Longmire/Paradise Area

Day 4 - Longmire

We drove across the park in nice weather to Longmire and decided to do one of the big view hikes we had planned, up the 3000' elevation gain to the top of Eagle Peak.   This peak is a lot of elevation gain and I think we survived only because of the ample blueberry and huckleberry patches along the way.  We were also the only people on the mountain aside from some trail workers we ran into in the steepest section near the top.

Breaking out of the woods, summit in site	At the top of the saddle
A deer we encountered	View of Paradise area from the top

Day 5 - Paradise

This was our last day of hiking and we decided to do a big loop around the Paradise Area.  We parked the car at the Pinnacle Peak trailhead at Reflection Lake to start on the Lake Loop trail to Paradise then connect to the Skyline trail up to Panorama Point, continuing on High Skyline to the Pebble Creek trail where we ascended to 7200' and the start of the Muir snowfield.  After lunching at Pebble Creek we headed back down the east-side of the Skyline loop and connected again with the east-side of the Lake Loop taking us back to the parking lot 9.25 miles and 6 hours later.

The lake trail was through a forested area going over a small ridge before crossing the road and going to Paradise.  We got to hike along a stretch of the Paradise River that was all waterfalls.  There were also ample huckleberries all along the trail and we made numerous stops to graze. 

Paradise river	Catherine foraging

At Paradise we began the climb up the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point. 

Heading up the Skyline Trail	Getting closer to Panorama Point

Finally we hit Panorama Point and could look out over all of the Tatoosh Range, the Goat Rocks Wilderness, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens (which was puffing out steam) and Mt. Hood in Oregon.

The View at Panorama Point

We continued upwards on the High Skyline Trail since the lower trail was under a very steep and dangerous snow field.  At the top of the trail we connected to the Pebble Creek trail and made our way to the end of the trail and the start of the Muir Snowfield.

View from Pebble Creek

We lunched at the high point then began our descent down the east-side of the Skyline Loop, walking through a much more barren landscape with a lot of rock, some small cinder cones, views of the Paradise glacier and the start of the Paradise River and views into valleys where no trail goes.

On the way back down	At the Stevens/Van Trump Memorial
Pinnacle Peak and the Paradise River	Meadow and Tatoosh view