Rainier & Olympic Itinerary Feedback

[Alex B]

Hello All!
My wife and I are excitedly looking forward to our trip to Rainier and Olympic National Parks this coming September. I’ve done a good deal of research and put together the below itinerary. I’m looking for any and all feedback from those who know best! This will be our first trip there and we want to see as much as we can over the course of the trip. Of course jamming Rainier and Olympic into a week long trip means some trails will be sacrificed but that’s a given.

If anyone has any tips or other recommendations, let us know!

Day 1 – Travel day with flights from TX to SEA. Supply up and get checked into hotel.

Day 2 – September 1 – Mount Rainier National Park

Travel From lodging to Carbon River Area (~2hours)

Hikes: Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout, 5.6miles, moderate to strenuous, 1,600ft, 2.5 to 4 hours.

Trying to be done trail by 12:00PM – 1:00PM

Travel to Paradise Area

Hikes: Skyline Trail Loop to Panorama Point, 6.2 miles, strenuous, 3-5 hours.

Myrtyle Falls Viewpoint 0.8 miles, easy, 30 min.

Lodging: Check into Paradise Inn

Day 3 – September 2 – Mount Rainier National Park

Hikes in Paradise Are: Camp Muir, 8.4 miles, Very strenuous, 8-10 hours, 4,606 ft gain

Optional Hike (Sunrise): Sourdough Ridge Trail Frozen Lake, 3 miles, moderate, 500ft ascent, 1.5-2hours.

Lodging: Second night at the Paradise Inn

Day 4 – September 3 – Mount Rainier & Olympic

Travel: Checkout early and head to Ohanapecosh Area

Hikes in Ohanapecosh Area: Grove of the Patriarchs 1.5miles, easy, 1-hour CHECK IF STILL CLOSED – do alternative hike or skip. Get there early – Can be challenging to get a parking spot during summer months, midday.

Silver Falls Loop 3.4 miles, easy, 1.5 – 3 hours. Ohanapecosh Visitor Center parking, wonderful short hike

Try to finish hikes around 12PM

Travel – Olympic NP From Ohanapecosh to Staircase Area is ~3 hours, targeting 4:00PM arrival

Hikes in Staircase Area: Staircase Rapid Loop, 2.8 miles, easy, 1.5 – 2 hours. Minimal others on trail.

IF more time due to arriving early in Olympic, could do Mt. Ellinor instead and then head to Northern Region on Day 5.

Day 5 – September 4 – Olympic National Park

Morning Hikes: Option1 – Mount Ellinor (if not day before), 3.2 – 6.2 miles, Strenuous, 3-5 hours.

2 routes, 1 incredibly steep but shorter and one longer but gradual.

Option 2- Head to the Northern Region instead Travel to Northern Region

Hikes in Northern Region: Klahhane Ridge Trail to Mt. Angeles, 6.5 miles, strenuous, 4-6 hours.

Marymere Falls 1.8 miles, easy, 1-hour

Mount Storm King, 4.65 miles, strenuous, 3-5 hours, 2,076 ft gain

Lodging Lake Crescent Lodge

Day 6 – September 5 – Olympic National Park

Travel to Pacific Coastline Checkout of lodging in Northern Region and head to Pacific Coastline, early/mid AM

Hikes in Pacific Coastline: Cape Flattery, 1.5 Mile round trip hike, northern most pacific coast of continental US

Shi Shi Beach, 6-10 miles, Easy, 4-6 hours.

Rialto Beach, Hole-in-the-wall, 3.5mile hike, easy, 1.5 -2.5 hours.

Lodging Town Motel in Forks, WA

Day 7 – September 6 – Olympic National Park

Hikes in Pacific Coastline: Third Beach to Strawberry Point, 3 miles, easy, 1-2 hours.

La Push Beaches, 3rd is the most remote and includes hiking through a forest.

Travel to Hoh Rainforest

Hikes in Hoh Rainforest: Hall of Mosses, 0.8 miles, easy, 30 minutes.

Spruce Nature Trail, 1.2 miles, easy, 45 min.

Travel to Seattle ~ 4 hours from Hoh Rainforest to the city of Seattle

[Steve S]

 

 

 

I suggest you reverse your ambitious itinerary. It is very hard to predict altitude adjustment, more so when coupled with highly aerobic activities, and I doubt you have been going high regularly in Texas.

Camp Muir at over 10000′ on day 3 might well give one of you altitude problems, vastly changing subsequent capacity for exercise for several days. The Olympics are significantly lower than Rainier, quite apart from the beaches at sea level. Think of beginning low and ending high as an insurance policy.

[George W]

That sounds rather ambitious, is your wife into a hectic schedule like that?

I would leave all those in the plan, but scale it back once you get in the area. I find that hikes or activities that looked good during planning may not be everything I expected once I get there.  The weather will probably change the plan for you, at least in those locations it’s common.

 

The roads in these locations aren’t great for making good time between stops, it normally takes longer than expected.

[Jerry Adams]

when you go beyond Third Beach you have to worry about tides.  For about 3 hours either way from low tide you can hike through, but then it gets difficult

when I go above 10,000 feet I get a severe headache, but it goes away when I get back below 10,000 feet.  Each person is different.  If you start feeling too bad hiking up to Camp Muir, then turn around.

[jscott]

Or…leave out Muir Camp. There are plenty of other wonderful day hikes you might take around the mountain. Each one gives a different aspect of Tahoma. It won’t get boring!

[Alex B]

Hi All,

Thank you for the feedback.  I’ve already made a number of adjustments to cut down on driving given it will likely take longer.  I always make a heavily ambitious itinerary and adjust when I am at the location for weather, time restrictions, etc.. I just like to have good backups to go to.

I appreciate the concern with the Camp Muir hike.  We will plan to only do that hike on the given day and certainly will turn back if we start to feel effects more than expected.  We know what we’re getting into it and some of the potential dangers of the hike with the snow field, etc.. but we will be prepared best we can.

[DWR D]

Cut your itinerary in half, slow down, and enjoy more…

[Alex B]

We love keeping busy in the parks and enjoy challenging ourselves on the trails, getting in as much as we can, that’s what we’re into :).

That said, we always go into these trips knowing we’ll cut plenty out here and there.

[jscott]

I  love Shi  Shi. In high school I used to go out to Macaw beach and surf. It was my favorite surfing spot. We carried our boards from Macaw (Neah bay) into shi shi once. I remember a seal on the beach and gathering mussels and cooking them on a fire. there used to be the wreckage of a large cargo ship on a beach about a half mile (?) down–you could see it if you take a little diversion off the muddy road into to Shi Shi.

Macaw is wonderful too. I also did trail work on the Hoh trail going up to Olympus, but it was further in than you’re going. But the rain forest at the start of the trail is magnificent.

[Joey G]

I moved from Washington to Texas last October. Miss it and want to move back :).

All of my backpacking in Washington was on the Olympics side. I really wish I could have done the Hoh, but never got a chance. However, my favorite backpacking trip was on the coast at Chilean memorial. I personally would skip the Grove of the Patriarchs. It’s nothing you won’t see more of at the Hoh trail. I also really enjoyed Sunrise much more than Paradise. I get though that lodging isn’t right there at Sunrise like it is at Paradise. Also, I recently went back to ONP about 3 weeks ago to backpack at about 6k feet elevation. I felt it big time.

Just my 2 cents.

[Waxing Gibbous]

Hope you had a great trip. What did you end up doing? I love Ellinor (plus you can see it from Seattle and say “I climbed that one!”). Broke my fibula going up Colonel Bob in September… so looking forward to next season and living vicariously through you all!

[Author]

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