These are my pictures from a visit to Laughingwater Creek in Mount Rainier National Park in August of 2022. For more information about the hike itself, visit Washington Trails Association. I ran a track on GAIA here.
In my quest to hike more trails accessible from the Ohanapecosh campground that I haven’t done yet, I left Loop E near campsite #9 on a very short spur and connected with the Silver Falls Loop Trail headed north. This was a quiet stretch of forest before passing the Eastside Trail junction at 1.3 miles. On previous trips I hadn’t noticed the large boulder just before, looked like a fun place for kids to scramble up.
Turning up on Laughingwater, I crossed SR 123 at 1.75 miles and started up the gentle switchbacks. The trail was in excellent shape and there were even a few huckleberries left on the bushes along the way. At 2.9 miles the trail turned up on the ridge. Before this point I was thinking this would make a nice snowshoe but it followed the contour in such a way that snow cover would mean a pretty steep ascent.
Laughingwater Creek lives up to its name twice, its playful gurgling calls to you from down the slope mockingly as you will never actually have access to it (short of a scramble). The closest spots were at the dip in the trail before the lake (3.3 miles for me, 1.55 if you start at the road) and at 5.1 miles (3.35) were I turned around after having lunch. The lake was at 3.5 (1.75) miles but too marshy/brushy to get to the shore if anyone needed a drink. Looked like a nice spot to watch frogs hop between lily pads, though. Further along, the waterfalls on the map could be heard but not seen. All the places that looked like they might hold streams across the trail were dry.
At 5.1 miles, before the trail left the creek on the map I took a tranquil spot with a nice view of the glistening water and enjoyed the solitude. I retraced my steps back to the campground for a 10.3 mile trek, once again only seeing a handful of people at the falls before settling into my hammock at the campground.
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