Upper Pallisades Lake,  Mt Rainier National Park,  July 19, 2009     page 1 / 22

Over the past twenty-two years that Libby and I have lived in Washington State, we have hiked many trails, especially those in the Mt. Rainier National Park. We discovered early on that visitors to the park tend to be found in greater numbers along those trails nearest the park lodges, so we have sometimes avoided these paths, favoring a quieter, backcountry experience. Despite those tendencies, we chose to hike the trail to Upper Pallisades Lake.

The trailhead is along the road to Sunrise lodge, a scant three miles from the end of the road. Interestingly, the trail begins by dropping several hundred feet into the woods. It proceeds west toward Sunrise Lake, then turns northward through a pleasant mix of trees and flowering meadows.