Parking
Start at Comet Falls Trailhead, about four miles east of Longmire on Paradise Road. Parking is limited and often full, with no additional parking nearby; have a backup hike in mind.
Overview
About Comet Falls and Van Trump Park Trail
Why go
- Combines Comet Falls with open alpine meadows in one hike.
- Views reach Rainier, Adams, St. Helens and two glaciers.
Heads up
- A steep, sustained climb continues above the waterfall.
- The small roadside lot often fills, with no overflow nearby.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Mount Rainier map
Full mapElevation3,796–5,728 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
7 active Mount Rainier alerts
- ClosureWildfire closures in the northern parkGrand Park 2 and Wonderland Complex fire closures affect trails, backcountry camps, and Sunrise access; stay out of closed areas.Official details
- ClosureSR 165 bridge closed: no public access to Carbon River or Mowich LakeThe SR 165 Carbon River/Fairfax Bridge is closed to vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians; there is no public access or alternate route to Carbon River or Mowich Lake.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Rainier Tour Guide
Your drive to Comet Falls and Van Trump Park Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Rainier National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Mount Rainier audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Comet Falls: A Steep Waterfall Hike0:00 / 0:27
“Comet Falls trailhead is coming up, the start of a steep hike to a waterfall more than three hundred feet high.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Mount Rainier Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Christine Falls and Its Stone-Faced Bridge
- Trillium's Tiny Seed Carriers
- Ricksecker Point: The Old Road to Paradise
- Cougar Rock: A Picnic or a Waterfall Walk
- 77 audio storiesacross Mount Rainier’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Mountain Goat, Black Bear, Wolverine, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 99 trails, 87 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Comet Falls and Van Trump Park Trail
The longer Comet Falls hikeComet Falls and Van Trump Park Trail is the longer out-and-back from Comet Falls trailhead: 5.
Comet Falls and Van Trump Park Trail is the longer out-and-back from Comet Falls trailhead: 5.8 miles round trip, about 2,000 feet of climbing, and four to five hours. It pairs a 320-foot waterfall with the harder climb into open subalpine meadows. I’d choose it if you want both the falls and the high-country views; if you only want the waterfall, the shorter version turns around there.
Keep climbing past the waterfallThe route follows Van Trump Creek through steep forest, with smaller falls and avalanche chutes…
The route follows Van Trump Creek through steep forest, with smaller falls and avalanche chutes along the way. Comet Falls drops into a narrow canyon about 1.8 miles from the trailhead. From there, steep switchbacks climb to a junction; take the right branch for Van Trump Park. The waterfall is a natural turnaround, but the meadow is the payoff for the longer hike.
The meadow and its viewsThe open slopes look north toward Mount Rainier and the Kautz and Van Trump glaciers, then…
The open slopes look north toward Mount Rainier and the Kautz and Van Trump glaciers, then south toward Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. Watch the rocky slopes for marmots, pikas and mountain goats. Wildflowers may brighten the meadow in season, but stay on the tread: these are fragile high-country plants.
The final distance is approximateThe park describes maintained tread for about half a mile beyond the junction, while the mapped…
The park describes maintained tread for about half a mile beyond the junction, while the mapped named path ends sooner, around a quarter-mile past it. The listed 5.8-mile total and the park’s rounded segment distances also differ slightly. The route here follows the connected named trail to its mapped end; treat the last meadow stretch and exact turnaround as approximate, and don’t continue on an informal path.
Plan for a steep summer hikeThis is a hard climb, especially after the falls.
This is a hard climb, especially after the falls. The park describes it as a summer hike for people in good condition and warns that steep early-season snow can make it a poor choice. Check current trail conditions before heading out. Pets are prohibited on park trails.
A name from Rainier’s climbing historyVan Trump Park is named for Philemon B.
Van Trump Park is named for Philemon B. Van Trump, who joined Hazard Stevens on the 1870 ascent that became the first recorded successful climb of Mount Rainier by non-Native climbers. Indigenous people had traveled through this mountain landscape long before that recorded expedition.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Mount Rainier
466 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
383 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
10 sightingsWolverineMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
58 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
574 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
1,853 sightingsHoary MarmotMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Rainier. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
