{"id":14,"date":"2010-02-14T21:56:54","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T04:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wanderjunkie.com\/?p=14"},"modified":"2010-12-27T11:52:38","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T19:52:38","slug":"14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wanderjunkie.com\/?p=14","title":{"rendered":"Comet Falls, September 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comet<\/strong> Falls<\/strong> <\/strong>
\nDate: <\/strong>September 19, 2009
\nDifficulty:<\/strong> 2 out of 10
\nDistance:<\/strong> 4 miles roundtrip
\nElevation Gain: <\/strong>300 feet
\nTime:<\/strong> 1.5 to 2.5 hours
\nLocation:<\/strong> Near Longmire, Washington
\nUsers Group:<\/strong> Hikers Only
\nPermits:<\/strong> $10 per car access fee
\nHiking with:<\/strong> Linna Freeman, Patricia Chow & Garth Heuchert.<\/p>\n

Since we were staying near Mount Rainier National Park and\u00c2\u00a0the weather forecast\u00c2\u00a0called for rain all day, we decided to hike\u00c2\u00a0Comet Falls.\u00c2\u00a0 The trail is under tree canopy for most of the\u00c2\u00a0route and has a spectacular view\u00c2\u00a0even on a rainy day.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the waterfall resembles a tail of a comet, it was named Comet Falls.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a fairly easy hike that you could do with the family, kids and beginning hikers.\u00c2\u00a0 The trailhead and small parking lot is located on Longmire Road; go early if possible, the parking lot fills up quickly.<\/p>\n

There is really not much elevation gain on this hike, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6you do start the hike at 3,600 feet.\u00c2\u00a0 Within a 1\/2 mile, you cross Van Trump Creek on a small wooden bridge.\u00c2\u00a0 You will cross three avalanche slopes after the creek, another good reason to do this in the fall\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.all the snow is gone.\u00c2\u00a0 At two miles you will see the magnificent Comet Falls.\u00c2\u00a0 The falls plunges 320 feet with a significant force of mist blasting from the bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 Since it was the fall, there wasn’t any\u00c2\u00a0snow and the creek level was low enough to walk on the creek bed to get close to the base.\u00c2\u00a0 Being this close,\u00c2\u00a0it felt as if\u00c2\u00a0you were caught in a hurricane with the horrendous sound and gale force winds generated from the 320 foot fall.\u00c2\u00a0 After getting soaked from the hurricane like mist and plenty of pictures taken, we headed back down.\u00c2\u00a0 For a longer hike, the trail continues another mile to the meadows of Van Trump Park.\n\t\t