Rampart Ridge Mt Rainier

Rampart Ridge on Mt. Rainier up to vanTrump Park 03SEPT2016
Jonny and I did this hike today with the cooler weather. The mid-mountain remained engulfed in clouds throughout the day, so that most of our hiking was done in mist. Though I would have loved the grand views of the mountain that can be seen on this set of trails, there was a different spectacular beauty to be seen, including looking through the mist to see a very large herd of mountain goats on the ridge adjacent to the one we were ascending.
This trail rarely was ever flat, most of it being either fairly steep climbing or descending. The route started at Longmire, and the trail quickly ascending from Longmire up to Rampart Ridge. The trail then followed the ridge, most the time ascending until a lookout is reached overlooking Longmire. From there, the trail either descends or is flat until the Wonderland Trail is achieved at 3 miles. After descending 0.2 miles on the Wonderland Trail, it again takes off on a fairly steep ascent up the ridge to VanTrump Park. You can see the herd of goats above that we saw in VanTrump Park. We continued on for a distance further on an unmaintained trail further up the ridge, but realized that we would not get out of the clouds until we moved onto glacier, not a smart idea. The descent went much quicker than the ascension. We were freezing at the top of VanTrump Park, so were glad to get down to warmer climate. Everything was quite wet, and there was extensive plant life growing over the trail making our shoes and pants soaking wet. It was also tricky, since there were abundant tree roots on the trail, and one knows how slippery they could be. By the time we got most of the way down, we encountered the hoi polloi struggling up the trail, most hoping to achieve a fraction of the distance that we accomplish, and sadly missing the spectacular views that we were able to see.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210104333if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1336670762
Jon fresh in eager to hike mode
Another view of VanTrump Park looking up toward the mountain.
Jon having lunch at the summit of our excursion
VanTrump Park. Looked for Trump but he wasn’t there…he was in Detroit.You can see the blöde Ziegen in the distance in die Wolken.
Nisqually River view from Longmire viewpoint on Rampart Ridge. It was not be possible to see this at the start of our hike since the valley was engulfed in clouds.