Comet Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park

Last week was my first visit to Mt. Rainier National Park in central Washington. The peak at the center of the park is the highest mountain in the Cascade Range, rising above 14,000 ft. The park boasts lush temperate rainforest and wide river washes fed by rain and glaciers crowning the mountain.

Vine maple, Acer circinatum, the foliage of which is just delightful in the fall.

Waterfalls dot the Rainier map and we headed towards Comet Falls on the southern slope of the mountain the afternoon we arrived at the park. A short distance from the trailhead, the trail passes over one of the tributaries of the Nisqually River that eventually runs into the Nisqually Delta near Olympia. The creek water rushed through a narrow channel of bedrock in a precipitous drop through a small valley making its way down the mountain. After crossing via foot bridge, the trail runs along the eastside of the creek up the slopes of Rainier. The water’s roar was a companion during the hike.

Flowers increased in number and variety gaining elevation up the trail. Among the most common were white six-petaled blooms of Clintonia uniflora, the flowers emerging not far above the ground next to a pair of smooth spatulate leaves (not unlike commercial orchids). Another frequent small ground cover species with white blooms was Cornus unalaschkensis (a small relative of the much larger tree, the dogwood). Yellow asters which I did not observe closely enough to attempt to identify were also common.

Blooms of Cornus unalaschkensis (left) and Clintonia uniflora (right), both common near Comet Falls.

Near Comet Falls there was a small population of the striking avalanche lily, Erythronium montanum, which I would later see in greater abundance in the higher elevation meadows at Paradise farther up the slopes Mt. Rainier. The flowers of this species hang down towards the ground, having six somewhat dishelved white petals that radiate out from a bright yellow center. Paradise also had many individuals of another species of fawn lily, E. grandiflorum (the Glacier lily), similar to the avalanche lily in habit, but with solid yellow flowers. E. montanum is distributed in the Pacific Northwest while E. grandiflorum occurs from British Columbia to California and into the Rocky Mountain west.

Avalanche lily.

Comet Falls.

There were a few Columbia tiger lilies along the trail too. Other booming species were numerous and included Maianthemum racemosum (large false Solomon's seal), Rubus parviflorus (thimbleberry), Rubus spectabilis (salmonberry), Rubus lasiococcus (dwarf bramble), Corallorhiza mertensiana (western coralroot), Phyllodoce empetriformis (pink mountain heather), Dodecatheon sp. (shooting star), and the striking red and yellow ornate flowers of Aquilegia formosa (columbine). The day was damp and cloudy, otherwise resembling conditions I would expect in late winter or fall, except that the presence of flowers and resplendent foliage reminded one that it was indeed summer.

Coralroot (Orchidaceae).

The rainforest at the base of Mt. Rainier is truly lush - one of the greenest forests I've been able to visit. As with most forests in the western Pacific Northwest's, massive conifers dominate the canopy. Cedars and firs were common in the park, and I also noted western hemlock, mountain hemlock, and Douglas fir. The new growth of needles on the tips of the conifer branches was everywhere, the bright green centimeters of vibrant new growth giving accent to the deeper evergreen of the older growth, such a pleasant sight! Lichens hung from the trees in abundance, giving the landscape a depth of age too.

After hiking to Comet Falls, we camped that evening among the beautiful conifers and had one more day to explore Mt. Rainier. The short trip did not give the extensive park due justice of course, but it was enough time to gain a taste for its beauty and to be enticed to return again.

References

Baldwin et al. 2012. The Jepson Manual. Higher Plants of California. 2^nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Turner M, Gustafson P. 2006. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

New growth on a small fir tree.