dry, smoky, exposed | shriner peak overnight

9 miles . 3350 ft gain . 5834 ft high

Mount Rainier National Park

When your friend asks you to go on a mid-week backpacking trip, you say yes. No hesitation! I love scheduling people for adventures in the summer and then filling in the location as we get close to the date to make the most out of the weather and situation. Our goal: something fun and interesting (i.e. a peak or lake with views) and not too long. My friend was only months out of postpartum and was yearning to feel her adventurous side and a short overnight trip was just the thing she needed. And honestly, she crushed it despite me picking a trail with more elevation gain than originally intended. I’ve spent little time camping in Mount Rainier National Park and it made sense to take advantage of mid-week availability for attempting to get a coveted MRNP wilderness permit. Our number one choice was Shriner Peak, but we sure had plenty of backups.

Need-To-Know and Permits

When backcountry camping in Mount Rainier, you absolutely need a wilderness permit. I was surprised to find that despite not entering a fee booth, we would still be within park boundaries. The SR-123 Cayuse Pass Highway isn’t the border of the park. Rather the park extends further to the ridge east of the highway. This also includes parts near Crystal Mountain and Naches Peak Loop.

Early Access Lottery exists for Rainier wilderness campsites in the spring and general reservations are open for the rest of summer. Find out more about Washington permits. However, Shriner Peak only allows up to 6 people every night and most of it is walk-up permits only. We checked to see what was available the morning of on the recreation.gov website. Funny enough, our backup options were much more popular than Shriner Peak on a Monday. This is what our priorities were in the White River Area:

• Shriner Peak
• Upper Crystal Lake
• Tamanos Creek (this was taken)
• Summerland (this was taken – on the Wonderland)
• Glacier Basin (this was taken)
• Upper Palisade

But honestly if you get to the ranger station and none of your backup plans work, rangers are awesome at giving recommendations based on what is available.

The ranger station is the White River Ranger Station. Unfortunately, it is on the other side of the White River/Sunrise entrance. So if you get there at noon, like we did, and are met with a long waiting line, definitely 100% pull over in a pull-out that is legally allowed (some have no parking). Then walk the half mile to the gate. Don’t wait 1-2 hrs as some people did. Especially if you’re not planning to backpack within the Sunrise area. That’s why one of my top choices was outside the gate!

Backpacking Shriner Peak

Much to our surprise, Shriner Peak was much less crowded than expected. I thought that all lookouts are busy, but on a Monday, tourists seem to want to see Sunrise or Paradise instead. We never saw another person once we got to the top. How wild!

I completely forgot my camera clip on my camera, so I stowed away my camera in my backpack and took zero photos on the way up. But there is not much to note. It is your standard Washington trail that gains elevation rather steadily. But don’t believe all the reviews when it says it’s really steep. It is much better than some reports make it out to be. I found that the tree coverage lasted about 70% consistently before breaking in and out. It was the saving grace for a hot summer day.

Oh and there is zero water source along the trail. Perhaps early season in May-June, there might be a trickle or two from snow melt. But approaching end of July through later summer, water is nowhere to be found. This means you have to trek up all your water. Thankfully I thought to bring an extra bottle or two (originally to be car water) but it was perfect for the overnight trip. Plus the shady trees allowed me to sweat a little less.

This time of year, there’s fewer flowers blooming than by the roadside for some reason. But we had absolutely the best views of Mount Rainier! The best part of backpacking is enjoying sunrise and sunset and we sure did that. It didn’t take us long to reach camp (btw camp 1 is definitely the best site) and we slowly made camp. My friend also figured out on-trail/camp pumping, which was so cool! Becoming a parent doesn’t mean you have to throw away your favorite activities. It just means it might look a little different.

After making dinner at the lookout, we still had a while before sunset so we returned back to the camp for sunset. Rainier doesn’t look as great for sunset since it’s super backlit, but I knew it would be spectacular for sunrise. Instead, we got really sweet views to the south with Mt Adams glowing in pastel pink.

As I was brushing my teeth, I walked over to the edge of the cliff of our campsite. And…

Surprise!

A brown coated black bear and a deer in the meadow below! We were warned by 2 groups of hikers that there was a momma bear and 2 cubs nearby. But one party assured us they were very far away. I was doubtful and good for that because they have legs and can roam. I barely had time to drop my toothbrush to photograph the brown bear. I was shocked by how calm I stayed. I had never been this close to a bear in Washington, let alone camping with one. I was so thankful to not be alone this trip! Seeing how unaffected the bear was to our presence reassured me. All it wanted to do was munch on its dinner.

When I went back to check and see if the bear was still there, another black bear was there. This one looked smaller and lingered around for longer. They really move a lot while they’re eating! It paid absolutely no attention to me even though I talked to it and said goodnight. Tbh, I really wanted to snuggle the bear haha.

We both swore to not get up at night for fear of getting eaten by a bear. I don’t know that there is much truth in that but we both didn’t wake up until sunrise. I kept peeking out of my tent because I knew a cloud layer was moving in and we had a 50/50 chance for sunrise. It was fairly cloudy.

But good thing I kept checking the clouds because the they moved quickly enough that we got in-and-out views of the prettiest alpenglow on Mount Rainier! It was so worth the early wake up. Groggily, we ran up to the lookout where the views of Mount Rainier were more clear. It lasted a good while before daylight replaced the pink hues. We took our easy time packing up and eating breakfast before heading down. Again, I stored my camera in my pack, so no photos of heading down.

A 10/10 trip with a lovely friend! Overnight camp, check. Great sunrise and sunset, check. Wildlife and flowers, check. To the next adventure!

Notes

• Permits: Required for staying at Shriner Peak, walk-up permits at White River Ranger Station about 20 minutes from trailhead. Check for availability here
• Parking: Small area for about 10-15 cars just <1/4 mile north of the trailhead
• Campsite: 2 campsites are available for up to 6 people. Campsite 1 is south and looks at Adams and slightly tree-d view of Mount Rainier. Campsite 2 is almost all enclosed by trees for mountain views. Campsites and toilet are labeled. There is a bear hang – use the pole to hang bags of food up there.

Photos taken on Canon R5