July 17, 2021 – Family Hike – “Around” & Past Reflection Lake and a stop at Nerada Falls
This was a family day hike out with family the day after our “Wedding 2.0” celebrations. We set out very late in the day as there was a marathon going past our Tahoma Canyon Home at Copper Creek Inn which blocked the roads until about noon. Plus, we were all pooped from the wedding celebrations the day before. (I plan on posting photos of our Wedding 2.0 around October when our wedding photographer sends me all the pics in high resolution.)
View Route Details: AllTrails Map of our Route
Nerada Falls we simply drove to the parking lot and then it’s a fairly steep, but quick 0.2 mile hike down to view the falls.
To get the reflection of the mountain in the lake you have to get here suuuuuuper early in the morning (like 6 AM) and catch it before the wind picks up and causes ripples in the lake. (In 2013, when I first visited Rainier, I was motivated enough to get up early enough to capture it, but have not attempted it since.) 
Apuci taking off on the meandering trail past Reflection Lake. 
The rest of the group apparently thought me to be a ferocious mountain mammal as they were viewing me from a distance…
(On a side note: I have my moments…)
So much green. Equal amounts of mosquitoes.
Definitely take bug spray this time of year when hiking around lakes in Rainier.
Indecision intersection. Oh, what to do!?! How to proceed?!? Other hikers apparently had quite a bit of input for us. Which always fascinates me as we didn’t ask them for directions (nor opinions). We weren’t lost. We just needed time to assess the hiking abilities of our group. One lady took it upon herself to waaaaay exaggerate about a creek crossing which almost had my sister-in-law, Becca, not proceed with her initial planned route. (Becca later reported to me that the creek really wasn’t a big deal.) My mindset is that if you’re going to try and be an expert about trail conditions and randomly share it with others (who didn’t ask you for details) then perhaps also show me a picture of what you thought was difficult so that I may truly asses if that will be difficult for me. (Okay, if you’re sensing a bit of attitude from me, yeah, I admit I have some when it comes to this topic.) 
While the group decided on how to proceed I entertained myself with some pics of Rainier… far away. 
…close up and… 
I had to check out my own Day 2 wedding hair. You know you have a killer hairstylist (Julie with Cameo Hair and Beauty in Spokane Valley, WA) when your hair stays put through a full day of wedding photo shoots, dancing, plus sleeping, and still going strong more than halfway into the next day. (46 pins and several mini rubber bands.) 
Hey! Where do you think you’re going dear deer? 
Geof pretty much has the super-serious-concentration face down to a T. 
Photo credit: Geof
And all that concentrating produced this lovely photo of Grant & Lei.
Lei joined in on the fun of taking of pictures. 
Our group ended up splitting into three parts. The Pauls ventured on and did a full trip around Reflection Lake (original plans). The Syphers clan hiked a tad bit further and then they went back to the parking lot the same way they hiked in. David, Apuci, and I just decided to keep hiking north and found this and another waterfall. 
Photo terrible quality as I’ve not yet learned how to take high resolution screen shots from videos and I haven’t figured out yet how to input the video in a gallery of pictures — so, the totally non-epic video is at the very bottom of this page. 
Putting my wedding boots and socks to good use. Oh and yes, me posing with Apuci by the waterfall. 
Love this guy to pieces. 
Photo credit: Geof 
Photo credit: Geof
Lei looking out at Reflection Lake.
After our group was reunited we started our drive back toward Longmire, but stopped over at Nerada Falls. 
Where I discovered for the first time the awesomeness of the selfie feature of my “new” iPhone 12 Pro. (I’ve owned it for like 6 months, but I’ve been so used to avoiding the selfie feature of my previous iPhones that I’ve continued the same habit.)
Anyways… sun and mist from a waterfall are a fantastic combo.
FIVE pictures I took and in every single one of them one or the other or both were not prepared for the photo. So, this is the best of the five. 
Apuci instructed me to take pictures of the waterfall. Hopefully, I didn’t disappoint him. 
My Apuci. In case the smile doesn’t say it: I’m so incredibly happy he joined us on this wedding trip.
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