The Southwest Face of Rainier Looks Nothing Like "Mount Marshmallow"

ENUMCLAW, WA—Most locals and visitors encounter Mount Rainier from Paradise or Sunrise, where the mountain earns its unofficial nickname from the kids in the back seat. The southwest face is a different story.

In a reel posted July 24, @nextfamilyadventures documents the view from Van Trump Park, reached via the Comet Falls Trailhead near Christine Falls Bridge. The 6-mile round-trip route is rated moderate to challenging with steady elevation gain—and according to @nextfamilyadventures, the reward at the top is a look at the Kautz and Van Trump Glacier zones that reads as noticeably more barren and rocky than the snow-blanketed north and east faces familiar to most.

The trailhead sits on the park’s Nisqually side, about two hours from Enumclaw by way of Eatonville and Highway 706, making it a solid full-day outing for anyone who’s done Paradise one too many times and wants to see what the mountain is hiding on its other side.

The glaciers in that southwest corridor have been thinning for decades, so the leaner look @nextfamilyadventures captured isn’t just a camera angle—it’s a quiet record of how the mountain is changing, one hike at a time.

Watch this Instagram Reel