Owyhigh lake trails
What do you do when Seattle is still in June gloom? You chase the sun and drive South to Mount Rainier! As soon as we reached the entrance of the park, it was like the grey clouds parted ways for us to enter a sunny clear paradise.
The trail head is less than 2 hours from Seattle on the Sunrise side of Mount Rainier. To get into the National Park you can either pay $30 for a day pass or $80 for a year pass that gets you into any National Parks. You can have two people’s names on the year pass, so my roommate and I split it. We know we will be hiking quite a bit over the year! If you split with someone, you only have to pay $40, which is worth it if you’ll be going to more than one National Park.
The trailhead is about 10 miles from the park entrance. I’d recommend using the All Trails app location to plug into your map to find the start. The trail sign blends in with the huge trees surrounding so knowing the exact location helps. The trail will be on the left and the parking lot across the street on the right.
The trail climbs 1600 ft in elevation by zigzagging through multiple switch backs in a dense forest. The hike isn’t strenuous in any particular part since you average about 500 ft per mile. It’s out and back 7.5 miles total. About 3 miles up you go over a small bridge and as soon as we crossed, the trail was still a bit snowy so I’d recommend hiking boots or waterproof shoes. The trail was a bit hard to follow in the snow patches but as long as you were going with the visible trail you will be able to find the opening in the forest.
As soon as the forest clears, you see the fields of wildflowers lining the trail. Keep going a few feet further to see great views of the two lakes surrounded by jagged mountain tops. There's a clear view of Governors Ridge. We sat and watched the clouds sweep over the tips of the mountains. You can continue on this trail to campgrounds or a class 3 scramble up Tamanos Mountain. I peaked past the main viewpoint to see the trail covered in snow so I didn’t make it much further. The view of the lakes and ridge were beautiful enough!
Total time to do this hike was 5 hours, which included our stop at the top to sit and take in the views. This was one of the least crowded hikes I’ve ever been on. It was a hidden gem at Rainier that I would recommend for great views. Its rated as Moderate, and if you wanted to explore more of the park, you would definitely be able to visit more areas of the park hiking or driving.
