On Sat July 29 I ran/hiked the Owyhigh lake loop on Mt Rainier. This loop is 33 miles long with 9493 ft of elevation gain. It took me 11 hours to complete the loop.
Mt Rainier is a beautiful park with well maintained trails. It is a joy to travel along these as I work my way up to summerland.
This next photo is of panhandle gap where I am headed.
Once at panhandle gap you will look out toward indian bar in the distance traveling over easy snow fields.
One of the local residents in this area, your marmot neighbor.
In this area I caught up with a fellow hiker/runner asking directions as all the snow had got him confused on where the trail was. I pulled up my route on my smartphone and gps watch and showed him where the trail lead. He was going my way and out for a day trip. He decided to join me for a few miles until we got to the grove of the patriarchs. Next up for us was indian bar in photo below.
Once we climb out of indian bar I get a nice view of Rainier.
Grove of the patriarchs is a very nice trail for people that want a nice place to hike with relatively flat trail a couple miles long. I travel along this for a little while before turning left up the eastside trail.
Here is a welcome sign. 8.2 mile till the road. I will pass by the Owyhigh lake above on my way there. This is quite a climb that goes on for awhile. Luckily for me it was mostly in the trees providing some nice shade.
This was the toughest part of the journey for me. Walk/running along this road with no shoulder was a bit unnerving. I am glad the cars were for the most part generous with the distance they gave me.
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