Wilderness: Glacier View

The 3,078 acre Glacier View Wilderness is located on the west boundary of Mt. Rainer National Park. This area was added to the Wilderness system in 1984 to protect and preserve the scenic, alpine environments adjacent to the Park. 

The annual snowfall can exceed 25 feet, and the snowmelt drains into the South Puyallup River, filling nine small alpine lakes in a meadowed basin hidden by long ridges on both sides. Some of these lakes dry up in summer. You can find water in Goat Lake, Lake West, and Lake Christine year-round. The forest cover is heavy with fir, pine, hemlock, and cedar, and thick with an understory of ferns, mosses, beadlily, trillium, and other wildflowers. Elk and mountain goats graze the basin in the summer.

The 1.8-mile Lake Christine Trail enters near the southern end of the area and passes Lake Christine to hook up with the Puyallup Trail, which goes 2.5 miles north and east to Goat Lake and then into the park or west to join the 2.9-mile Glacier View Trail. A side trail off the Lake Christine Trail allows you to climb 5,475-foot Mount Beljica for another breathtaking view. The Glacier View Trail continues north, with side trails to Glacier View itself and Lake West, and proceeds to Lake Helen, which is outside the northern boundary of the Wilderness.

• Key access points: Trail and trailhead information.

At a Glance