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Trip Report    

Wonderland Trail: Longmire, Narada Falls

Log crossing Nisqually River, no snowshoes necessary.

Michelle Peterson Michelle Peterson
March 06, 2022
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The river crossing is via the second large log, 2200 ft north of the Cougar Rock TH.

    The entire route is snow covered, but in the AM the snow is firm; by early afternoon is quite soft.

We headed out of Longmire parking lot just after 8:30 AM, in about 1-1/2 hour arrived at the crossing of the Nisqually River. We ended up looking for a crossing, walking up and down the river for about an hour. The successful crossing is the second really big log, about two miles from Longmire, or 2200 ft north from the Cougar Rock Campground TH. We then backtracked in the woods on the east bank to reconnect with the Wonderland trail northbound for Narada Falls.

In all, with the snow very firm from being early in the day, we arrived at Narada Falls in 2-1/2 hrs. For a moment we had the beautiful view of the falls to ourselves, basking in the sun on the snowbank below the falls. Quickly inundated with tourist, we quickly headed back down towards, in search of quiet for our mid-day break.

The return to Longmire, now that the day was progressing and absolutely beautiful sunny weather, was in soft snow. We post holed a bit the lower in elevation we progressed, but never did need to put on snowshoes. (I wore spikes on my mountaineering boots the entire route.)

Back at Longmire just before 2:30, a wonderful day on the Wonderland Trail, most of the route to ourselves, probably due to an adventure of crossing the Nisqually River using a log upstream from the marked crossing on the map.