At the end of my previous post, I was somewhere near Glacier Vista, which offered great views of the glacier and the river valley below. For this post, I will continue with the hike, up to my favorite spot of the trail. My first destination was of course, Panorama Point.

Working my way up to Panorama Point. Yet more wildflowers flank the sides of the trail.

Turning back towards Mount Adams

The amount of wildflowers here can be absurd at times. Here's one example with Mount Rainier in the background.

Snow banks started appearing more frequently and larger in size as I continued my ascent.

Almost there. Nice little stream next to the sign.

Section of the trail runs along a rather steep slope.

Marmot completely ignoring me and busy munching away at the plants.

Absolutely gorgeous alpine lupines right next to the trail.

Focus on the flowers

The kinda halfway mark of my journey, Panorama Point!

After about 3 hours of hiking with frequent breaks, I finally reached Panorama Point. I thought I had captured a panorama shot of the spot, but I could not locate it. But anyhow, Panorama Point had similar beautiful views of the south from along the trail. From there, the Tatoosh Range was clearly visible, although with unfavorable lighting for photography. In the distant, Mount Adams was clearly visible, and Mount St Helens appeared a little hazier. Unfortunately, I was not able to spot Mount Hood on that day. Panorama Point was also the only spot with a toilet. After a quick bathroom break, I continued my way past the highest point before heading downhill.

Useful info at Panorama Point. Mount Hood was not visible on that day unfortunately.

A quick shot of Mount Adams (left) and Mount St Helens (right) together.

Toilet with a view.

Continuation of Skyline Trail uphill past Panorama Point

Looking down on Panorama Point from Skyline Trail, with Mount Adams in the distant background.

Another nice look at the glacial waterfall.

At this elevation, wildflowers were very limited. It was mostly barren and covered in snow and patchy vegetation. Looking up, I could see some hikers on snow. Yeap, those black spots in the center are hikers. I guess they were working their way up to the summit.

Another up close look at the summit of Mount Rainier.

I think I reached what should be the highest point of the trail. A good part of the trail was covered in snow. So I had to walk around it to avoid getting my shoes wet.

From then on, it was a downhill hike. You can see a line of hikers at the center making their way down. I liked how the scenery now is totally different from when I was working my way up to Panorama Point. A lot more barren, a lot more snow.

I loved how the shadow of the cloud glided across the barren landscape.

As I hiked downhill, I noticed that the runoffs from the snow melts formed into streams. And around those streams, patches of mossy oasis formed, some with wildflowers. I found those absolutely gorgeous as it contrasted with the otherwise barren landscape. It was here that I found my favorite part of the hike. It was the combination of the scenery and the weather I guess. At that time, cool glacier chilled air was blowing down from the summit. Alpine scenery + alpine weather. I could not have asked for more. It was the perfect alpine experience that I was looking for.

An oasis of wildflowers around the streams from the snow melt. Here we have monkeyflowers dominating the foreground.

Daisies (or asters?) in the foreground. What was not captured in this picture is handled by the video below, namely how the flowers danced in the wind, and the shadow of the clouds gliding across the land.

Further down the trail, I found my favorite spot right here. It was the perfect spot. Small stream - checked. Flowers - checked. View of the snow capped misty mountain - checked. The wind and sound of the flowing stream - checked! It was pure zen. I hung around the area for a good 10+ minutes.

Looking up, I spotted the snow crossing I made earlier. If you zoom into the picture, the black dots on the middle/upper snow bank are hikers attempting to cross the snow. I loved how tiny the hikers are compared to the surrounding landscape.

One last shot of my favorite spot.

And so that was it, my favorite part of the hike. I loved it so much that I decided to revisit the same spot the next day.

I had wanted to blog about the remainder of the hike in this post, but looks like there is still quite some material to go through, so I will conclude this trail in my next post.