[fourteen410]

You'll rarely find me at MRNP in the summer due to crowds and dog restrictions. But a friend was visiting town, so I caved. We spent the night at White Pass to allow for some Gifford Pinchot explorations on Saturday. Finally got the chance to visit Walupt Creek Falls. I was surprised at how low the flow was.

early summer flow

August 17 flow

We had a good 30 minutes to ourselves. Once the crowds showed up with naked kids, smokers, and a lady shaving her legs in the creek, we decided it was time to leave. We rose early the next day for a nice hike to Upper Palisades Lake. Fortunately this one doesn't attract the crowds thanks to the downhill in/uphill out and lack of Rainier views. Most flowers were well past prime, but gentian are starting to pop - harbingers of fall. Clover Lake was a very pleasant surprise along the way. We decided to skip Hidden Lake this time around but enjoyed an hour relaxing lakeside at Upper Palisades Lake before doing the whole thing in reverse. Not too shabby for a sunny summer weekend hike at Rainier.

[Michael Lewis]

quite a contrast in the flow of the falls. Nice balance of macros to deep field

[lookout bob]

Lovely!!!!

[Dave Workman]

Unless it's been raining a lot this time of year, the falls always slows down in mid-August. It's still magnificent. Thx for sharing. Those images bring back a lot of pleasant memories from more than a half-century ago.

[Nancyann]

Beautiful photos, and I love the pika Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it seems like there haven’t been as many wildlife photos as in past years in most of this summer’s trip reports..