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Hiking It

The trail starts next to a small sign on the north side of the highway across from the parking lot. Initially the path takes you over the remains of a massive debris and mud flow that devastated this valley in October 1947. The flow was triggered by heavy rains, which caused a partial collapse of the Kautz Glacier. Landslide events like this are fairly common on Mt. Rainier, although they are usually smaller in size. As recently as the fall of 2006, over 18 inches of rain fell in one day, which caused such extensive damage many park roads and trails had to be closed for the entire summer of 2007. For the next few years you should expect to encounter damage along many of the park’s trails, so be sure to check on conditions before hiking this route. On the remains of the 1947 slide, small trees now crowd the area, mostly western hemlocks and western red cedars, but in more open and sunny areas deciduous trees, especially red alders, predominate. The dense undergrowth is mostly composed of salal, along with various ferns and mosses.