Mt. Rainier - St. Andrews Park Backpack
Southwestern corner of Mt. Rainier National Park. September 22-24, 2026.
Time to explore a new part of Mt. Rainier National Park! I've been curious about the west side of the mountain since 2008 when my Dad and I hiked on the Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates the mountain. Due to a huge rainstorm that washed out a bridge, we had to cut our trip short halfway around the peak, and we never got to see the western aspects.
This year, Mt. Rainier (also known as Tahoma to the indigenous communities who inhabited and stewarded this land first), consistently had some of the best air quality in the state, so with wildfires still burning elsewhere I jumped at the chance to join a new group of hikers from a local nonprofit organization for a hike to this area. Our trip began at the Longmire ranger station where we picked up permits. All backcountry campsites in the park are heavily regulated and we met two rangers out there checking permits among all of their many responsibilities (including shoveling out the pit toilets- thank you rangers! I'm certain ya'll need to be paid more for that sh*t).
Some hikers reserve sites well in advance, but this time of year you also might be able to snag permits mid-week from the recreation.gov site as well.
Views from the west side road.
Access to this part of the mountain is via the old West Side Road. You can drive up it for a bit, and the road is one of the best gravel surfaces I've driven, but the car access ends just before a wash-out prone gully. From there it is a minimum four mile road walk to get to the trails. Some bike the road, but we opted to walk it, and while it was nicely surfaced, the time on the road was not very exciting and oddly hard since we moved faster than I'm used to with a full pack.
Bright pops of fall colors - exuberant reds and oranges and yellows that contrast so beautifully with the lingering green leaves and evergreen boughs- grabbed my attention between forest sections. We also got a neat view of the Puyallup river with dramatic lighting from a gap in the clouds.
Thankfully, while tedious, the road hiking passed relatively quickly, and I was quite happy to turn onto the South Puyallup Trail and into the woods. Gravel and hardpack transitioned immediately to a soft trail covered in hemlock tree needles and cones with moss encroaching on all sides. The moss is everywhere, and vibrantly green after recent rains. It coats the forest floor, creeps up every tree trunk, and for inexplicable reasons always makes me smile. Moss just seems like such a small-scale but vital miracle of forests in the pacific northwest.
The lovely trail through the woods, and some of the forest details.
The trail to the camping area in the forest dropped steeply from the road and then followed the path of the river up the valley. We had only gained 1,000 vertical feet over the four miles of road walking, so there was 600-something feet left. After the pseudo-monotony of the road the lush forest was a cornucopia of details that kept me entertained for the remaining miles into camp.
One of the coolest parts of the trail is right before the camps - a cliff made of fractured basalt columns formed when lava cools rapidly, and it breaks into the distinctive hexagonal pattern. This was one of the best formations I'd seen in Washington!
We rolled into the camping area in the late afternoon, around 4 pm, and cruised through the options looking for a site that would fit our four one-person tents. This is easier said than done, as most of the sites only had two flat-ish spots for tents, and I've come to the conclusion that for groups of 3-4 or more tents, it is best to get either a group site if available OR reserve two campsites in our WA national parks. Otherwise, you may end up playing tent tetris. Thankfully this site was easier than some I've dealt with in the Olympics, and we were able to fit everyone without being right on top of each other.
One of the nice things about this park is that all the camping areas have these tall metal poles that you hang food from, instead of having to carry a bear can! This saves weight, but there was a bit of a learning curve for our group on the best way to use the second metal pole with a notch at the end to get a heavy food bag threaded up on the top of the pole, especially by headlamp!
While setting up camp a cohort of chipmunks, camp robber jays, and eventually mice would join us. Be sure to keep an eye on your food, and watch for mice at night that like to chew on fabric and anything that smells like food. At night, to prevent damage to my backpack, I put the pack cover on backwards and cinch it tight- this covers and protects the pack harness (shoulder straps and hip belt) from larger animals like marmots, and also in this case seemed to be enough of a deterrent to the mice, too).
Views from the large bridge over the Puyallup River, and evening light on the trail. Our water source was a quarter mile away, so we made an evening expedition to fetch water. I had a dromedary bag to fill which made it easy to bring 7 liters back to camp.
The next morning it was time to head up the hill and explore the high country above! Once across the bridge the trail begins a very consistent ascent of 2,000 feet up to the ridgeline above. Mostly in the forest, occasional breaks in the trees and zones of shrubbery gave us peekaboo views of the unique west side of the mountain. A few minutes after leaving camp I stepped on a hidden rock in the trail and rolled my ankle. Not too badly, but it would bother me the rest of the trip whenever I stepped on uneven surfaces. Thankfully my hiking boots go above the ankle and prevented a worse injury. Since this is a relatively common occurance, I knew what to do, and rested the foot for a few minutes, took ibuprofen right away, and thankfully felt up for continuing the hike.
On the ascent I stopped to look at all the unique plants we passed, especially those with fall colors. While some may find a forest section of trail like that boring, I really enjoyed narrowing my focus to the smaller things. The way a leaf held a constellation of colors. The texture of the trail under my feet (something I paid extra attention to with my ankle being cranky). The way the forest smell changed as we ascended. And, it was also a very exciting moment when we popped out of the evergreens onto the ridge and into the subalpine meadows!
The section of trail from the ridge toward Saint Andrews Park was amazing, and passed all too quickly! Between admiring the meadows and looking up at Rainier between the tall weather-sculpted trees I wish I'd had more time to linger here. After hiking so much alone this summer, I was glad for the company, but there are definite trade-offs when traveling with a group. Most other hikes are very motivated by getting from point A to B and seeing the things along the way (a generalization for sure, but one that fits most hikers I encounter). Increasingly I find that I care less about checking a location or high point off my list. I like to be able to stop in a stunning spot, paint, photograph a clump of leaves from three angles, and wander a way trail until it peters out. My objectives have just shifted a bit compared to most.
This isn't to say that either approach to hiking is better than the other. This is just something I find I often have to navigate when hiking with others, and this is where the radios come in handy, as it makes it so easy to stay in contact if I slow down and everyone else continues ahead. Can't recommend radios enough for groups where paces or objectives are different!
My main goal for the day was to get to Saint Andrews park. In order to give my ankle a rest and have time to paint, the others continued on to Klapatche park and I sat beside an alpine meadow and a mostly dry pond. With just enough time to paint before they returned, I skipped lunch and set to work right away, sketching lines and setting up my little camera to film the painting process for my Adventure Art Academy students.
I found this view challengin to paint. The mountain was mostly obscured by the treed ridgeline and the barren hill behind it, which made for a lot of similar colors and rocks next to each other. Knowing that if I painted these layers with a lot of realism they would look flat and the painting would lack depth, I pushed the colors a little bit. Accentuating the purples and blues of the peak, and bringing out more golds in the hillside. I also painted far fewer trees; I added just enough to get the story of the treed ridgeline but saved time by ignoring a lot of them! I also incorporated the meadow in the foreground, as I worried the front zone of the painting would look too boring and the viewers eye would slide off the painting at the bottom. The meadow details help to redirect the viewer back into the scene and balance out the higher level of detail in the peak and ridge.
At first I wasn't sure if I liked the painting, but the more I look at both the photos of the place and the painting, I've come around and appreciate it more!
I finished just as the group returned, which made for a hasty pack-up of my gear and hurrying after them. Some members really wanted to hike to a different ridge above camp, so well all headed back the way we'd come. Now later in the day, the meadows just glowed wherever the sun backlit the red blueberry plants!!
The hike back to camp was mostly uneventful, although my ankle was definitely sore and a bit bruised, so I took is slower than normal. Getting back to camp earlier than usual (as I was definitley done hiking for the day) meant time to relax, eat a late lunch, and work on a few additional sketches that I haven't finished yet! It started to get too damp in the woods and my paints refused to dry!
At dinner it was decision time - our weather window for the latter half of the trip was now gone, and it looked like a lot of rain was on the way. The original plan was to move camp from the South Puyallup backcountry sites to Lake George, and then hike up to the Gobbler's Knob Lookout for the day before spending a third night out. But, no one was excited about packing up in heavy rain, so we decided to leave a day early. Some in the party would add the side trip to the lookout, but with my ankle I felt it prudnet to do as few additional miles as possible. In the morning I hiked out with the group for a few miles back to the road intersection and then walked the last four miles back on my own.
On the way out, the overcast sky seemed to bring out the bright greens of the forest, and we were amazed at some of the new mushrooms we saw! I also loved the patterns of the leaves against the dark ground and shadows.
Once on my own, I kept thinking back to the trip with my dad in 2008. It was really fun on this short trip to see more of the mountain, and it made me want to come back and do more!! Getting permits to hike the full Wonderland Trail is very difficult, but I will try, and if I can't get them in the lottery, I'll just have to try for walk-up permits and make sure I'm in shape to maximize my flexibility for camp locations and mileage.
Seeing more of this incredible park makes me excited to come back.
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