Hiking Skyline Trail, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Driving Time: Seattle (2 hours 30 minutes away), Portland (3 hours away)
Distance: 6 mile loop
Elevation Gain: 1,800 feet
Difficulty: easy/moderate
Traffic: crowded/no solitude
Dogs allowed: no
Bathrooms: yes, at trailhead and at Panorama Point
Dang, can you believe it’s already August 16th? I feel like summer went by in a blink of an eye. Yesterday was my 28th birthday and to celebrate we woke up early and did this hike in Mount Rainier National Park. We arrived to the trailhead around 6:45am and the lot was already almost full. We hiked clockwise around the Skyline Trail loop and were immediately treated to stunning views of Tacoma/Tahoma (Mount Rainier). There were lots of groups of hikers on the trail all the way up to Panorama Point, but past Panorama Point we had a little bit more solitude. The wildflowers were in full bloom and we also saw some wildlife (deer, mitchmunks, fighting marmots). We left the park around 10:00am and there was already a 3 mile long line of cars waiting to get into the park!! So get there super early if you want to do this hike!
This hike is on the land of the Puyallup. To learn more about Native Land please explore this resource: https://native-land.ca/ & https://native-land.ca/resources/