Acadia hikes round-up (Acadia NP, Maine) August 2014

Acadia is strange.  It is absolutely gorgeous, but there just aren't many hiking options, particularly any serious hikes.  That was just fine for our purposes (a fun labor day camping trip with my childhood friends and my roommate and her boyfriend), but I had expected I'd want to come back to do more hiking--no.  It was hard enough to find enough to fill the 2 days in which we had allotted for hiking, which I had not expected.  There aren't even trail maps available anywhere... very odd.  The majesty of the park is partially just the juxtaposition of beautiful cliffs and mountains right next to the beach, since it's located on a peninsula, so I guess hiking is just not what people intend to do when they come to Acadia, which is fine.  But I digress.  Here are the hikes that we did:

Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail
I picked this hike because it was the longest one I could find in the park, plus it originated from our campground.  You can pick up the trail either at loop A or loop B from Blackwoods campground.  There's only one trail that goes up this way, and it's very well-marked with blue blazes and cairns at a few parts.
The hike is lovely, if a little boring at times.  You start in a forest, and gradually the trail opens up til you're on rock slabs.  The elevation change is incredible gentle, since it occurs over the course of 4.2 miles.  The summit is a little nuts (it's huge and crowded) because there's a road that allows people to drive essentially right to the top.  We disucssed how desirable it would be to institute a system in which you needed to prove that you were physically unable to hike in order to be able to drive to the top, but this seems unlikely.
Overall, I'd do this hike again because the view from the top is really lovely (lots of great coast), and it's the longest hike in the park!
8.4 miles if you start at Loop A
+1300 feet
4 hours

Precipice Trail
This hike was the highlight of our time in Acadia.  It's super challenging (although a bit short) and just so so fun.  There are a lot of warning signs posted because you're ascending on essentially iron rungs and ladders, and some crazy rock scrambles are involved.  But so fun!  It's definitely plenty safe if you're not an idiot, despite all of the "WARNING PEOPLE DIE"-type signs.  Basically, the trail is the way to ascend the eastern face of Mt. Champlain.  Honestly, the views are nice but not particularly spectacular-- but it's the hike itself that's the main attraction here.
I think it's only a little over a mile, but the climbing takes a while-- we spent probably 90 minutes on it.  You can descend the same way, but we opted to go down a different way (can't recall the trail name, but it's obvious when you're at the top).  Only downside is you have to walk about a mile along the road to your car, but this wasn't a huge deal.

Great Head Trail
We sort of happened upon this trail by accident, while intending to do more of a "beachside walk," but we ended up on a trail and we were all wearing hiking boots, so why not.  You can pick up the trail at Sand Beach-- just go down the stairs from the restrooms, and you'll walk across a stretch of beach and walk up another set of stairs where the trail starts.  We didn't do the whole loop, but it's a fairly easy walk with a few rock scrambles, and lovely views of the shoreline and some of the rock islands in the harbor.

Aaaaand... with that Acadia trip, that makes 8 national parks this summer.  Two that I had been to previously, plus six new ones.  Probably not gonna be able to do that for awhile, or ever again...


  

Mt. Rainier Hikes Round-up (Mt. Rainier NP, Washington) August 2014

My family took a trip-- just the four of us-- for the first time in many years.  We hit Seattle and Vancouver in addition to Rainier.  I should note- my parents appreciate the outdoors but aren't that committed to spending large amounts of time outside.  My mom wanted to hike but was a little worried about the physical strain, so I ended up trying to pick some gentler hikes that would be challenging but not totally overwhelm my almost-60 year-old parents.

Rampart Ridge Trail (Longmire area)
This trail is a natural choice if you're staying in Longmire, because it leaves from outside the National Park Inn.  You get incredible views of the peak of Rainier once you reach the top.  Elevation gain is steady but pretty gentle (my mom might not agree).
You start on the Trail of the Shadows, and in about a quarter of a mile, follow the signs for the Rampart Ridge Trail.  The views are at about the 2.5 mile mark.  At about 3 miles, you follow signs for the Wonderland trail, which descends and drops you off back in the Longmire area, close to where you started.  4.5 miles
+1300 ft.
2.5 hours

Skyline Trail/Panorama Point (Paradise area)
I have heard that this is Rainier's most popular day hike, and for good reason-- it was amazing.  By far my favorite of the trip.  The trail is tough at the beginning-- you gain elevation very quickly, but you're rewarded with great views.  Even better, you really get a sense of the varied landscape-- you are walking through fields of wildflowers (at least in August), but then there are huge patches of snow and ice on the trail itself (thought my parents were going to kill me but it all worked out), and you get not just great views of the peak of Mt. Rainier itself but of the other Cascades, which were really lovely.
You take the skyline trail (originates from right outside the Paradise visitors center) up to Panorama point (6800') where the nicest views are to be had.  At that point, a lot of people turn around, but you can do a nice loop (which we opted for) by taking the High Skyline trail (to avoid the most treacherous patch of ice and snow which would have been doable but unpleasant without the proper gear).  You'll eventually get to a choice point where you can take the Golden Gate trail to take a mile off the hike, but we kept going on the Skyline trail on the descent.  You go by some nice waterfalls-- not really my thing, but they were OK.
Note: the highest point on this trail is 7100'-- obviously pretty tame by Washington state standards but it's pretty high if you're not used to altitude.
Note #2: we encountered a few fairly big patches of snow/ice as noted above.  Nothing too crazy, and my parents were OK making their way over slowly, but just fair warning (when I asked about trail conditions at the visitor's center, I wasn't told about this!  Probably because it's normal out west, but still).
5.5-6 miles (we had to detour for the first part of the trail due to maintenance, which added some mileage)
+1700'
4 hours (will probably take you less time than it took my family!)

Pinnacle Peak Trail (Paradise area)
After finishing the Skyline trail loop, I was down to hike some more.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my sister was as well, so we set off on this quick but jarringly steep hike.
This is a fun one to do if you have a short amount of time-- it only took us 1.5 hours, and this is after we were pretty tired from a half day of hiking already.  It's an out-and-back trail of 1.25 miles each way, but you gain 1050 feet.  Additionally, the terrain is a mess-- a lot of uneven rocks.  But you really do get some spectacular views once you get to the top of Pinnacle Peak (6562'), Rainier itself plus Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens.  I wouldn't go out of my way to do this hike, but if you're in the Paradise area (the hike originates a couple of miles from the visitor's center, so you have to drive to get there) it's a nice (albeit fairly draining) way to spend 1.5 hours.
2.5 miles
+1050
1.5 hours

Wonderland Trail (throughout the park)
I spent some time trail running on the Wonderland trail.  It's a really nice feature of Rainier-- it stretches for 93 miles (!!!) and goes around the entire park.  The trail is fairly flat which makes it a good choice for running.  You can read about it here: http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/the-wonderland-trail.htm
Apparently some people hike this entire thing.  Honestly, I would much rather day hike around, because at least in the section of the trail that I ran on (I realize I only covered about 10 miles of it, but still), it wasn't super scenic-- it's certainly not like the things I saw couldn't have been seen elsewhere.  But that's just my opinion.  It's a very nice trail for running, though.