Mount Rainier, Comet Waterfall

October 1, 2026

Washington Trails Association page for this hike. All Trails page for this hike.

This hike is considered “moderate” in difficulty but it can be a challenge if you are doing it same day immediately after the Skyline Loop Trail as we did. I suppose that depends on your fitness level. A hiker we spoke to on the trail said that he ran into many folks who had just done that. This is a short hike but there is some steep climbing. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to complete it and that was with picture taking at the falls.

We saw a warning about bears posted at the trailhead sign. We always carry a canister of bear spray but haven’t run into a bear on the trails yet.

The first part of the trail is nice terrain like this.

Early we find the first of two bridges. The trail runs along Van Trump Creek all the way up to the waterfall.

There are a lot of small waterfalls along the way. Be careful when viewing them as sometimes the trail is quite far above the creek. In this case we are viewing the creek from the bridge.

Much of the trail is in a wooded area.

Here the trail briefly opens up.

Another small waterfall.

Climbing up.

Stopping to get another picture of the creek.

Looking back from an open area.

We get a break from the climbing.

An interesting rock formation above. Looks like pieces of it have fallen at times.

The trail is pretty high above the creek at this point.

Someone has built a stairway here.

Ying reaches the top of the stairway.

Now to do some uphill. We see other hikes returning.

Ying checks out another spot on the creek with some waterfalls.

The second crossing. When you reach this the larger waterfall is just around the corner.

Our first view of the Comet Falls.

We get closer and take a lot of pictures. Its amazing!

Standing here in front of the lower falls, we are getting wet from the spray.

Ying took a picture of me in front of the falls.

Ying zoomed in to get a picture of the top. Using the zoom makes it fuzzy. This would be the head of the comet. The larger fall and then the lower fall make the tail of the comet.

Hiking back.