Greenwater and Echo Lakes — Thursday, Jul. 9, 1998

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

We parked at Corral Pass campground early Wednesday afternoon and hiked to Echo Lake in about 4-5 hours. We are not fast hikers. The trail was in excellent condition, all down hill. It was a very nice hike. There are 3, maybe 4 campsites at the lake that we saw. The brige across Greenwater River at the head of the lake is out, but it's still easy enough to cross, either by balancing on logs or taking a couple of steps in the river from one side of the broken bridge to the other, you'll go in about thigh deep, if you're short like me. There is at least one very nice site on the other side of these bridge, trail #1187. The next day we hiked from Echo Lake to just up-river from the Greenwater Lakes. This was also down hill all the way, with the exception of climbing out from Echo Lake. We camped at an absolutely gorgeous site on the river, with old growth cedar and doug fir, a rocky beach to sun on, a nice fire pit,and plenty of room for tents.The next day we hiked around the Lakes, which are just lovely, and there are at least four camp sites in the area, some of them quite large. We spent another night in the same site, then headed up the hill on trail #1185. See that report for more fasinating reading.