Trail to Grove of the Patriarchs
Old Growth in the Grove of the Patriarchs Mt Rainier Description of the trail greets you as you begin Timing is everything New trees fall along the trial in every season. Some are small, some large. Luckily no one was posing for a photo when this one crashed onto the trail, nor was I. As you walk along the 1.5 mile trail the further you go the more you see larger and larger trees. Once you've reached the steel, swinging foot bridge, and it does bounce and sway, which warns you to go one at a time, you are only a very short distance to the actual Grove of the 1,000 plus year old Patriarchs of the forest. They are massive, one reaching a circumference nearing 50' and close to 14' in diameter. The Grove of Western Red Cedar, Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir, is something we see rarely in all the hiking and trails anywhere, other than the Giant Redwoods. It's always worth the drive to Mt Rainier in the Ohanapecosh area in the SE corner of the Nat