Via the Northern Loop on Mount Rainier. Or rather, cutting the loop by leaving the Wonderland Trail after Mystic Lake for Old Desolate and rejoining the trail on the way to Lake James. Backpacking the full Northern Loop Trail was one of my first outings in Washington State so it was fun to revisit some of those memories!

Oh no I feared I might be missing the morning glow

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This has to be the best parking lot view in the entire country right?

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Sun’s fully up, on trail now

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Would love to ski the Winthrop Glacier proper to St. Elmo Pass one day

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Huge seracs over the Willis Wall

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My first peak of the day reflected over Mystic Lake

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View at the top of Old Desolate

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Liberty Ridge in the center

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Little Tahoma

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My next two peaks, Sluiskin Squaw left and Sluiskin Chief right

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Top of Sluiskin Squaw, clouds starting to build

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Top of Sluiskin Chief, thankfully I’d soaked in all of the views by this point

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Lake Ethel and Lake James on the right, where I would rejoin the Northern Loop Trail to get there

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A chaotic but organized mess of bridges and log crossings over the muddy waters of the West Fork White River

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A clearing near the Grand Park, 2400 feet of vertical gain later

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Fremont Lookout

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Flowers along Lodi Creek

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Notes

• This was probably ~30 miles and ~10000 feet of vertical gain in 12 ½ hours.
• Clockwise is definitely the move for views - frontload them while the sun is off on the east and keep your back against its rays the whole day.
• Now having revisited the area, I can say that the Northern Loop has no views - just do sections of the Wonderland instead.