We parked on 410 at the Little Ranger Creek trail head this trip-- BEWARE-- our car was broken into! 

Day one took us through 3 separate ecosystems of terrain/ vegetation. There was lots of salal and sword fern to start but not much else. This area was devastated by the 2017 fires and continues to be in rehabilitation. The 2nd portion along the Dalles trail had few views because of the fog but we could see the nearby airport. Lots of mountain bikers here. Enjoy the lupine and other quick-to-recover vegetation. Fur-filled predator scat and the remnants of a devoured flicker reminded us that that the wildlife is alive and coming back into the area. Lots of strawberry flowers here, but no fruit yet. The final portion past Noble Knob hosted lots of rocky scrambles and tons of mountain blueberry bushes with some small, immature fruit. The descending trail veered from our Gaia mapping but continued to trail along the creek.

Lost Lake was quiet with lots of campers building fires along the mucky, grassy shore. The fog burned off by 8am with 360 views and toads a'leaping. Unripe thimble berries trim the water.

The trek from Lost Lake to Echo Lake began quickly. Pass through lupine meadows blooming among tree ruins. We quickly passed Quinn Lake on the right which looked clear, deep, and the definition of 'aquamarine'. I wished we had stayed there instead-- folks we talked to mentioned it's a great camp spot, but has few places to make camp. After reading reviews about bountiful bugs, we brought our spray and face nets-- I was almost sure we wouldn't need them until they became ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL after turning off onto Echo Lake trail! Have snacks easily available in your pack as you won't want to stop and let the 'squitos suck your blood. Expect woodpeckers, bugs swarming the burnt word, rubbing and creaking trees, LOTS of bridge crossings, and (if applicable) gratitude for your waterproof boots.

The north side camps were all full, but the meadows on the south side provided a beautiful scenery. We spotted a heron at dusk and our pup pointed out a coyote skeleton no more than 20' from where we set up camp. The daytime breezes kept the bugs away and we woke up to a dewey tent.

Lost Lake trail out of camp was quiet and what you'd expect walking through a post-forest fire area. The trail was a blend of charred bark chunks, ash, and sand. The trail itself was very slippery and had several stream crossings and washed-out/burned up areas to traverse-- see pictures. We left camp early and shared the walk with a few deer, a woodpecker, and a couple pika. The switchbacks sport lots of lupine fields, wild strawberry (yes, fruit here!), snow plant, and bear grass.

You can't miss Corral Pass as it's a big, fenced parking lot with a water trough and a charred picnic table-- funny enough, still chained. From there, we walked to Noble Knob trailhead. Tracks in the dirt reveal this trail is used more by deer and elk than hikers! We ran across a few along the way. Watch for tiger lily, Indian paintbrush, columbine, and lots of strawberry-- though only flowers here again. The view of Rainier at Mutton Mountain is FANTASTIC, and made for a lovely lunch spot. We watched a herd of elk run and bugle one peak over as we munched.

From Noble Knob we trekked to Deep Creek trail which was a long, very steep trail. We were glad to be going DOWN in this stretch, though it was a slow process. It's clear this trail is predominantly used by mountain bikers-- expect worn corners, deep ruts in the trail, and some very unusually carved obstacles. Watch for thistle, phlox, and lots of false hellebore. 

Our final stretch was from the bottom of Deep Creek across the White River Trail to traverse 410 back to our car making the complete loop. At the bottom of Deep Creek trail we splashed in the water and pushed onward.

We approached the car with tired feet and collarbones to find the window had been smashed sometime during the three days. We had left nothing of value in the car, but we were grateful they didn't take our America the Beautiful pass on the dash! We decided next time we'll leave the car unlocked with a note in the window.

Ahhh, the coveted, snow free, not crowded, Mt Rainier area, early season loop hike!

The TH is easy to miss so just look for the cars parked on the side of the road right near the Skookum Falls viewpoint. Got there about 9am and there were only a few spots left. Took the Palisades Trail up and the Ranger Creek Trail down, then traversed along the White River trail back to where it connects with Palisades. In total Gaia clocked it at 2618 elev gain, 14.5 miles - took me about 8 hours with a few breaks to enjoy the views/have a snack. True to the description you'll do most of your climbing in the first 1.25 miles so tough it out because beyond that it's well graded with a beautiful traverse through forest (the burn zone at the top was eerily beautiful) til you hit the N & S Snoquera viewpoints. If you want to get your climbing out of the way, I'd recommend Palidsades up, Little Ranger Creek down direction. I felt like Ranger Creek seemed steeper if I had taken it up so keep that in mind if you choose to do the loop in the opposite direction. Only saw about 10 souls and most were masking up as we passed. This would be a great hot or rainy day hike since it's mostly forest cover with minimal periods of exposure.

One word of caution is it's a shared hiker/biker trail and parts are narrow and steep so seeing a mountain biker coming at you full speed ahead, downhill, is a fear I could do without. All were courteous, I just made a point to announce my arrival at some of the blind corners to appease my paranoia and avoid a calamity.

Started at the Palisades trailhead around 8:30 AM, only one other car in the lot. Did the entire loop and this was quite an amazing hike. The first half was challenging but even on a foggy/misty day the views were worth it. At the second or third viewpoint the wildflowers were smelling wonderful. Mid hike was my favorite as the trail has you hiking along the mountain top with really awesome views. The second half of the hike down little ranger peak trail was a nice decent with wide switchbacks that lets you take in the forest scenery. I only saw two groups of people (a couple and then a family) once I came down along white river trail towards the end of the trip. Other than that I had the entire trip to myself. Got back to the car around 2:30 PM, whole hike was about 6 hours including 30 mins for eating/taking in views. Planning to come back on a clear day to take advantage of the views! Only (small) downside was about 30 mins of hiking and hearing/seeing the highway while on white river trail. 

Myself and two friends started at the White River trailhead and took the 0.2mi connector to the start of the Palisades. Hiking the Palisades on a clear day is a must. There were several lookouts to catch a beautiful angle of Ranier. Most of the trail stays cool and covered, only going out into the open for the views. A couple downed trees on the path that were very easy go over/ around. Other than that, the path is very nice packed dirt. This whole loop is obviously a popular mountain biking spot as that was about 75% of the folks we saw on the trek. There are a bunch of gnats and sweat bees (flies?) that will follow you every now and then, and watch out where you sit as there are plenty of ants in the drier areas.

We brought 2L of water each, which turned out to be just a tad more than necessary; the intersection of Palisades and Ranger Creek trails is right where Ranger Creek starts. Great water to filter from. On the suggestion of some bikers, we continued past this intersection onto the Dalles Ridge trail. About 0.5 mi before we hit Noble Knob there was some very slick snow melt going across the trail. With backpacks and no traction some of us (me) were not able to cross it.

We turned around and made camp back at the intersection of Palisades and Ranger Creek. This was a good spot for one or two tents. Had a nice little fire pit with a small wood stack that is dry-ish if there isn't recent rain. The temperatures were perfect to sleep in this time of year: 50s once dark hits and mid 40s as the night goes on.

In the morning we were met with some classic PNW mist-and-drizzle. Not much to complain about as we went down Ranger Creek trail, which is almost all tree cover. Took a pitstop at Little Ranger Peak, which may be a good view point on a clear day. We continued on until we were once again on White River. We followed it until the beginning of Snoquera Loop.

The climb back up was not very fun after so much downhill, but it was good exercise. Snoquera Falls was crowded but well worth the detour. Theres a nice little rock scramble up to the actual falls that only a fraction of the crowd attempted for some reason. It wasn't easy, but a couple of 10ish year olds in front of us got up and down.

We followed the loop until it hit White River trail once again. From there it was a very short sprint back to our car.

Overall a fantastic loop that could be done in a day if you're looking for a challenge, or two days if you're looking for a fun overnight trek. 

We inadvertently did a whopper of a loop hike today, starting from Camp Sheppard with the intention of doing Little Ranger Peak. Here's what happened . . .

First, parking: the directions for where to park were quite fuzzy, so we decided to park at the Camp Sheppard lot. Great! we thought, here's a nice, civilized trailhead. Well, yeah . . . except, we ended up hiking about 2.5 miles just to get to the Little Ranger Peak trail. But that was fine; the trail was mellow, and though it paralleled 410, it was pleasant (we also accidentally did a mini-loop even on that trail, though!). For future reference, the parking area  for Little Ranger Peak is just short of the Buck Creek Camp sign on 410.

Once on the actual trail we were looking for, we hiked 2.8 miles to the Peak (a steady but well-grade ascent), where we had a snack, enjoyed the pretty view, and decided to forge onwards, because--well, heck, it was only 11:30 a.m.! We thought we'd head towards Dalles Ridge, signs for which were right there at the junction.

On the way to the ridge, which was 3 miles from Little Ranger Peak, we passed the intersection for Palisades, and made a mental note: we could take a "shortcut" (HA!) back to Camp Sheppard later on, via Palisades. We headed on up to Dalles Ridge, a 3-mile hike through a really interesting and eerily beautiful burn site (the Norse Peak fire from a few years ago). After reaching the ridge, we hiked along it looking for a good lunch spot. We learned from some mountain bikers that we were on the way to Noble Knob, so after lunch we headed towards The Knob for a short distance till the trail began heading uphill again. At this point, we'd already gone about 10 miles so decided to turn around.

We headed back down and did, indeed, take the Palisades trail back to Camp Sheppard and our car. Now, Palisades is beautiful. It hugs the mountainside and has numerous viewpoints looking out across the White River valley to Mount Rainier and other mountaintops all around. The views of Rainier are gorgeous, and the cliffs that you are hiking along are dramatic.Wildflowers abound, including paintbrush and purple penstemon. BUT--it is a long and rigorous 8+ miles back down to Camp Sheppard. At one point, we thought we were had misread our map and that we were in for a 25-mile hike total. Luckily, another group of mountain bikers were able to reassure us that we were on the right track--only hiking 20 miles. The Palisades portion was beautiful, but I am glad we were hiking down rather than up--especially for the last couple of miles, which took us past Dalles Falls. Palisades is very steep!

Total mileage for today was over 20 miles. Highlights: beautiful hike all the way, especially along Dalles Ridge and Palisades, both of which had terrific views to Rainier. Also--very nice mountain bikers today! We saw about a dozen guys on bikes and all were super nice, courteous and helpful! Thank you!