It was all blue skies and snow fun on the mountain today. Despite the road to Paradise being open, I opted for Longmire due to icy roads. My spikes were perfect until Madcap Falls just after Carter Falls. My plan was to turn around there, but after talking a couple nice hikers into going up to Narada Falls if they were feeling good and had the time, I ended up talking myself into the extra trek so I donned snowshoes. Two parties zoomed past me wearing spikes. There are some wicked postholes, a couple downed trees, and one tiny unfun water crossing. I never had to break trail and only got a little disoriented on my way back when it got dark and I hit a big patch of dirt/mud. The packed snowy trail is much easier to follow when your headlamp only illuminates a few feet in front of you. The bridges were all in good condition for now...more snow might make a couple of the bridges up closer to Narada Falls worrisome. Traction is definitely advised. 

With sunshine and good road conditions, my 14 year old and I hit Longmire for an afternoon hike. Our mission was to get to the bridge that takes you to Carter Falls (and beyond). We started out from Longmire with spikes. The trail is packed and obvious the whole way to the bridge. I would not enjoy tennies and no traction on all that compact snow and ice. The trees are dappled with snow especially once you leave the close proximity of the road and get into the forest. It gets cold so pack all the stuff. If you might not return until after 3:30 pack headlamps too. The bridge taking you to Carter Falls is in good shape. We crossed it, took pictures, and went right back over it. It took us 4 miles (including venturing out to all the little lookout areas and checking out a little of the Cougar Rock Campground trail...which takes you to the road. We didn't cross the road and continue on that trail. There's about 550 ft. of elevation gain for this section. If you continue on to Carter Falls, there's that much elevation gain but in a short distance. We didn't opt for that today. The roads were in excellent shape. The Longmire parking lot was good, a little slick. The sidewalks are definitely icy. Happy trekking.

In case you’ve not been paying attention, the road from Longmire to Paradise is only open on the weekends this season (weather permitting).  The Park itself is open as normal, however, and there are some great trails out of Longmire of which you can take advantage.

Got to Longmire a little before 9AM. The roads and parking lot were clear of snow, though the sidewalks were icy. On the way out the trees had dropped some snow/ water on the road which had frozen, so watch out for icy patches even on nice days!

Bathroom was clean and well stocked.  There’s only cold water at the faucet; be prepared to warm you hands after washing.

I wound up using a moisture wicking base layer, long sleeve shirt, and rain jacket over the course of the day. Had a puffy in my bag but I never felt the need to put it on (I tend to run warm).  Hands got colder than usual for some reason, for all that I had two pairs of gloves. Thankfully also had handwarmers to get them warmed back up.

The nice thing about this trail is you can go as far as you have the time/ desire/ ability/ daylight and there are several wonderful things to see along the way. At the Nisqually Crossing (about 1.8 miles from Longmire) there’s a fantastic view of Rainier.  If you make it to Carter Falls (about 3 miles from Longmire), I’d strongly suggest continuing on about 325 feet to Madcap Falls, which I think is a prettier falls (shorter than Carter, but not obscured by trees). You can even continue on to Narada Falls or Paradise, though please keep in mind the shorter days we have right now. And please do make sure you're supplied with at least the 10 essentials (plus winter layers, etc) - even for 'short' hikes.

From Longmire to Madcap falls (a little past Carter Falls) the trail was packed solid today. I used spikes as I had them and like extra traction in snow, but I saw several people without them. I’d be careful of the slopes into/ out of the Nisqually River Valley, as they are a bit steep, but otherwise it’s a mostly gradual grade.  Also watch out for the frozen in postholes that are immediately adjacent to (occasionally inside) the trail; you could easily break an ankle with a misstep.

After Madcap the snow got sloppy.  If I’d brought my snowshoes I would have put them on at this point as I tend to roll my ankle in sloppy snow.  After the third time I postholed up to my knee (around Paradise Creek Camp) I decided I’d had enough so I turned around and made my way back to Longmire, stopping for some tea on a dead tree trunk near the Nisqually River and enjoying the great view of Rainier.

There were three trees down across the trail but all were easier to get under or around. I saw eight people on the trail today; all but one on my way out. 

Just did a quick hike/snowshoe hike from Longmire to the Cougar Rock area and back. The trail is very clear and mostly hard packed by now.  We opted to go with snowshoes, but the other hikers we met seemed to be doing fine without. With the exception of the open area near Cougar Rock Campground, the trail is quite doable without snowshoes (as of this writing).

In several places previous hikers have cleared small detour trails to the bluff overlooking the Nisqually gorge, and some of the views are quite lovely. Snow on the trees and rocks is still very beautiful.

With an easy pace and frequent stops for photography, the 1.6 or so miles to the Nisqually River crossing (that log bridge) took about 1 hour.

Easy.

The trail had compact snow so snowshoes are not necessary until the trail toward river crossing at the end. Wind guests caused snow that were collected on tree branches to fall. That’s pretty much the only hazard we contented with. What a beautiful day to be outside.

The hike totaled 4.7 miles from our car with 606’ EG.

Here’s my video report.

Snowshoeing Wonderland Trail - Longmire to Cougar Rock
https://youtu.be/n22-plByvdQ