Documenting my Rainier obsession
about Mount Rainier where to start
about this site future plans
itinerary planner permits

Narada Falls Loop

Difficulty: easy

4.8 miles

Elevation gain: 1260'

Max elevation: 5380'

Camps: none

First hiked by me: 2020

Q: what do you get if you combine the Narada Falls Trail, High Lakes Trail, eastern portion of the Lakes Loop including the Faraway Rock viewpoint, and the section of Wonderland Trail from Reflection Lakes to Narada Falls?

A: a nice loop hike featuring many waterfalls, subalpine meadows and forest, occasional glimpses of the summit or Tatoosh mountains, plus one of Rainier's most iconic lakes.

Narada Falls and Reflection Lakes are easily accessible to non-hikers, and correspondingly heaving with the kind of crowds that make me start to doubt my belief that it's a good thing for the special places of this world to be accessible to all :-) The rest of this hike is surprisingly quiet, though. Several trail sections are near roads, but the frequent waterfalls do wonders to cover up traffic noise.

You can start the loop from either Narada Falls or Reflection Lakes. I went clockwise from Narada Falls, where it took me a moment to find the start of the trail (turns out it's just past the restroom building).

Narada Falls

Pond implausibly located just feet away from the high viewpoint of Faraway Rock

Reflection Lakes

Trees in the mist

The Narada Falls trail follows the Paradise River past a seemingly endless series of small waterfalls

Another waterfall

They're everywhere!

Paradise River during the spring melt