Longmire to Cougar Rock Campground, Wonderland Trail — Friday, Nov. 2, 2007

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

No need to repeat Bev’s fine report on Oct. 17 covering the first part of this hike, except to point out that there is now no snow on the trail below Narada Falls. We went on to Reflection Lakes (made easier by starting at Cougar Rock). This upper section of the Wonderland continues to be a fine trail (though briefly a bit muddy / slippery in a couple of spots where recent trail work appears to have been done). Essentially no snow until the last 25 yards before the intersection with the Stevens Canyon road. That last little bit of trail is mostly covered with a thin snow crust. We followed the Stevens Canyon road (now closed to autos for the season) from the trail intersection about 300 yards to the first summer turnout and good views of the largest Reflection Lake; the first half of this stretch of road was bare, and the second half had a few inches of snow cover. All was foggy on the way up, but the clouds lifted somewhat as we had lunch. The Mountain remained socked in, but the Tatoosh range materialized. We enjoyed some fine tree-framed views of Pinnacle and Castle as we started back down the trail.