Red Top Mountain Lookout Family Hike

I think today we found the perfect hike for kids that brings the best views! Today we ventured out to Teanaway to Red Top Mountain's lookout. It was quite a drive from my parent's house in Mill Creek (over two hours) but it was definitely worth it! Even the drive was pretty and scenic. Teanaway is on the east side of the Cascades beyond Snoqualmie Pass. Note: The WTA site says a NW Forest Pass is required for the trail, but we went to the Cle Elum Ranger Station just to get a pass, and they told us it is no longer required. The ranger did warn us about the dips in the dirt road and we were thankful for that. The minivan my husband drove managed fine, but driving up the dirt road to the trail head and back down to head home was his least favorite part of the trip just because of all the rocks (he wanted to be careful as he didn't want to get a flat).

Heading up on a weekday has it's perks. We only saw one other car at the trailhead. There is a bathroom which is also nice, especially since we were in the car so long and a few of the kiddos had to go. 

The trail starts out nice and flat. You can see our destination, the lookout, in the pic below.

Once we reached this sign, the trail started to climb up.

It got a lot steeper as we got closer to the lookout.

The kids did awesome! I think seeing the lookout definitely helped as they knew exactly where we were headed.

On the way up, was a pretty neat looking outhouse. I loved how it was triangular shaped.

This is one of my favorite pics, which was taken just to the right of the outhouse.

There are lots of loose rocks heading up so it can be easy to slip, so be careful especially if you have kiddos with you.

 We made it! If you have kiddos, you need to be careful with them at the top as their are areas with drop offs.

Panorama shot! Love how we got to see Mt. Rainer, Mt. Adams, the Stuart Range, and we could even see Little Annapurna (where Tim proposed to me almost 5 years ago).

Me on the mountain!

The pic below is from me looking back at the Lookout from where I was standing in the above pic.

This hike is pretty awesome!! I would have to rate this hike pretty high because it is a hike that kids can do because it is short. It is just two miles roundtrip according to the WTA site but to me that was hard to believe because the kids had no problem heading up. It seemed shorter. Another reason I rate this hike high is because of the views. They were just amazing!!! We were lucky to have had such great weather so we could see the views we did. I definitely recommend this hike to others!! I would say this is a must do if you love views and want to take your kids some place neat! We took my sister's kids hiking for the first time today and they loved it!