Little Ranger Peak via Ranger Creek — Friday, Jul. 29, 2011

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

After seeing this hike featured on this site thought I'd check it out. Directions weren't real great on finding the trailhead. I parked in a small clearing in the forest just south of Camp Sheppard (seeing 1 other car there). I actually was a little over a mile from the trailhead junction to Little Ranger Peak. If you want to start out right on the Little Ranger Peak trail, it is exactly across highway 410 from the Buck Creek R.A. aka FR 7160. Anyway, I ended up hiking an extra mile or so of the White River Trail which was ok as I hadn’t hiked this stretch before. I passed a lady & dog, a family, and 2 mt bikers on the White River Trail. I would pass no other people the rest of the day. The trail pretty much the whole way is in the forest. Lots of coralroot noted in the forest. The trail switchbacked up and eventually came to a junction with the spur to Little Ranger Peak (a short walk). The actual peak is a small rock outcropping which is hard to sit on but not too hard to scramble up & over to a more flat lookout where the view is better (despite what the guidebook states). It just involves negotiating a narrow ledge that must be scrambled to reach the flat perch - use caution. This would not be ideal for a large group as there's not a lot of space to sit nor would I let young kids run amok up there. The summit of Mt Rainier is visible thru the trees. The White River valley is the main view to the south. A few wildflowers on the rocks. Nice quiet spot for lunch. I returned to the trail fork and back to the car. Ended up doing more like 8 to 9 miles rather than the 6 listed for this trail. Will come back and explore further on Palisades trail in the future.