I’ve backpacked at Indian Heaven almost every year and thought I’d skip it this year. But I couldn’t stay away – and this time, it completely stole my heart as I showed my young friend the beauty of this place.
On this three day backpacking trip to Upper Palisades Lake in Mount Rainier National Park, we hiked through subalpine beauty filled with lakes and meadows to a scenic lake below peaks of The Palisades.
Starting at Chinook Pass, we hiked south on the Pacific Crest Trail and camped at American Lake and Big Dewey Lake, both of which are just outside of Mount Rainier National Park.
On my first subalpine backpacking trip of the year, we lucked out and were able to get walk up permits for Upper Crystal Lake at Mount Rainier National Park.
The Upper Falls Creek area has several campsites next to the creek above the super scenic (and extremely popular) Falls Creek Falls waterfall, and makes a great base for exploring less traveled trails in the area.
The Duckabush River Trail is located on the Hood Canal side of the Olympic Peninsula and makes for a great early season backpacking trip with multiple camp areas in low elevation forest next to the scenic river.
Indian Heaven Wilderness is my favorite place for fall color, and this year was exceptional with spectacular color and warm weather.
On this two night backpacking trip, we hiked in to Burnt Lake to setup camp and day hiked to East Zigzag Mountain and Cast Lake.
On this two night backpacking trip, we camped near Killen Creek’s upper waterfall and hiked to High Camp, then left a day early when high wind and wildfire smoke threatened to impact the area.
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