Naches Peak Loop in autumn
— the week the huckleberry burns red.
Not only on a wall.
“A 3.2-mile loop at Chinook Pass, just east of Mount Rainier. The trail leaves Tipsoo Lake and climbs along the shoulder of Naches Peak, sharing about a mile with the Pacific Crest Trail. In late September the huckleberry, mountain ash, and pink mountain heather turn carmine and gold along the open slopes, with the white cone of Rainier visible to the west across the valley. The walk is easy by Cascade standards, with about 600 feet of gain, and most weekends in October the parking lot at the pass fills by mid-morning.
Naches Peak Loop in autumn, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Naches Peak Loop is a 3.2-mile circuit at Chinook Pass on State Route 410, the eastern edge of Mount Rainier National Park. The trail leaves Tipsoo Lake at about 5,300 feet, climbs onto the southern shoulder of 6,452-foot Naches Peak, and rejoins itself near the highway. About a mile of the loop overlaps with the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Mexico to the Canadian border just east of the pass. Half of the loop sits inside Mount Rainier National Park; the other half crosses into the Wenatchee section of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
The loop's reputation is built on a single short window. From the last week of September through the first ten days of October, the mountain ash, low huckleberry, and pink mountain heather along the open south slope turn carmine, gold, and rust, with the white volcanic cone of Mount Rainier rising to the west. The Forest Service estimates peak colour usually lands between September 24 and October 5, depending on the previous summer's heat and the first hard frost. After the frost the leaves drop within about a week, and the road over Chinook Pass closes for the season by mid-November.
The trailhead is at Chinook Pass on State Route 410, about two hours southeast of Seattle and ninety minutes east of Tacoma. The pass road is gated through winter and reopens in late May or June, depending on snowpack and avalanche conditions. There is no fee to walk the loop itself, and the trailhead lot is on the National Forest side; a Mount Rainier National Park entry pass is required only if approaching from the Stevens Canyon side. Dogs are not allowed on the park half of the loop, which makes the full circuit a no-dog walk.