White River, Palisades & Snoquera Falls Loop — Sunday, May. 26, 2002

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

A nice early-season hike is up to the Snoquera Palisades, above the Camp Shepard Boy Scout Camp on Route 410. There is a nice new parking lot at the trailhead near milepost 53. The trails can be a little confusing leaving the parking lot. You stay left at the Boy Scout amphitheater and go left again on the White River trail, #1199, and go on past the Boy Scout camp. Keep going west past the junction with the Snoquera Falls trail and in about a mile and a half from the trailhead, go right toward the Palisades. The sign says that there are overlooks in 3 and 5 miles. Soon there is a creek crossing, where the bridge washed out a couple of years ago. There are some timbers that have been thrown in among the boulders, but the crossing can be tricky in high water. After the creek, the trail switchbacks up to a very spectacular falls, which is not named on the map. Also notable were the calypsos orchids along the trail. A wonderful staircase climbs the wall next to the falls, and after a few more switchbacks, the trail moderates through forest. About two and a half miles from the trailhead is a first overlook above the White River valley and in another mile and a half is a second overlook. This is actually the first one mentioned in the tail sign down at the bottom. This is where our group stopped for lunch and then turned around. The trail does continue, and a loop can be made by linking up with the Ranger Creek trail, for a total hike of 14 or 15 miles. There were only a few spots of snow near the overlook where we had lunch, but there is probably more snow further along the ridge right now.