Tourist Sights and Attractions in Seattle, Washington

An ideal getaway, Snoqualmie falls is just a 30-35 minute drive from Seattle. No wonder, the place is crowded on weekends and a parking place can be so difficult to find. The fall is 268f feet high and  pretty wide even though much of the water from the river upstream is diverted to the power plants. The drive to Snoqualmie is short and sweet with the fall colours omnipresent on the route. But, Snoqualmie can get pretty cold and if you are planning to walk down to the falls, better be prepared with warm clothing!

The moment you enter the first viewing platform, the waterfalls look impressive. You don’t get to see the entire river downstream from this platform. For that, you have to go a bit further where you see the “official” viewing platform easily identified by the scores of people packed into a small space!

If you have the energy and the interest, you can walk down to the bottom of the falls (almost) through a short trail. The distance is not that much, but the trail is pretty steep at places and can easily sap out your energy on the way up. The trail goes through thick forests and the greenery is awesome.

There were people kayaking on the river downstream and from time to time they approached the base of the falls. From more than 20 metres away, the spray from the falls was damn cold. I can’t imagine that these guys were trying go almost under the falls.

Once you go down to the bottom of the trail, you reach a dead-end at the viewpoint. Of course, you can jump over the boardwalk and go closer to the falls. I have heard that you could jump over, but there was no one outside the board walk when we reached there. So, i was discussing with Lokesh about this. A girl standing next to us overheard us talking and told us that it was okay to go ahead. So, off we went and immediately, scores of others followed! Looks like everyone was waiting for that someone to be the first!

Once you get down and manage to clabmer over the slippery rocks, you not only get to see the waterfall, but also to feel its force!

If someone ever said that the rocks are slippery and they won’t come down to the bottom of the falls, show them the picture below. Two little girls, i guess not more than 3-4 years old had a free rein at the falls and they were epxloring every nook and corner, of course under the watchful eye of their parents. That was pretty courageous of their parents!

written by Rajaram S \\ tags: seattle, snoqualmie falls, trail

This is most popular destination within the park and to find parking here is as difficult as, if not more than, downtown Seattle. The only difference is that the parking here is free. I was shocked to see that parking slots extended to even after a mile from the main visitor center. One would get tired just by walking from your parking slot and wouldn’t have any energy left for the trails.

There are dozens of trails (short and long ones) starting from the Paradise visitor center and the map provided at the center is amazingly accurate as far as the details of the trails are concerned. This visitor centre at 5000+ feet is the highest point on the Mount Rainier mountain you can drive up to. So, it is no surprise that you are treated to magnificient views along with carpets of wild flowers.

We were waterfall crazy on that particular day and chose the Myrtle falls trail which is close to the skyline trail. It was a short walk (less than a mile) and the fall looked good with the mountain in the background.

written by Rajaram S \\ tags: Mount Rainier, paradise, trail, waterfall

No idea why this falls is called the Narada Falls (Maybe appears in Hindu Mythology somewhere!), but this is a truly majestic waterfall. Don’t miss it. This involves a short but steep (0.5 mile downhill and then the same distance back) walk to get a grand view of the fall.

written by Rajaram S \\ tags: Mount Rainier, trail, waterfall

if you go from Longmire towards Paradise, you will come to a trailhead giving directions for Carter falls. we were surprised that a trail had been laid out going across a river! We didn’t go until the falls as the round trip distance of 2.2 miles was a little too much for a bunch of software engineers. But, the views from the riverbed were awesome. There was also a woodden bridge (a little shaky) across the leftover stream.

written by Rajaram S \\ tags: Mount Rainier, route, trail, waterfall

Longmire could be the first rest stop in your trip arund Mount Rainier. There is a restaurant, Wilderness information center and a souvenir shop at Longmire. The Longmire museum house lot of artifacts from the history of Mount Rainier and also has on display, pictures and stuffed displays of the various animals and birds in the region.

A short walk through the cabins and the work area will take you to a woodden suspension over the Niswqually river. Again, good photo-ops.

There is a short trail (0.75 mile) called the trail of the shadows. This trail goes around a small lake and is in the midst of huge trees which practically shut out the sun. This trail goes near a mineral hot springs discovered in 1883 by james Longmire. A good short-walk.

written by Rajaram S \\ tags: Longmire, Mount Rainier, trail