Carter Falls is a 2.6 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Packwood, Washington that features a waterfall and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking.
Mount Rainier National Park charges a fee to enter. Fees are $30 per vehicle or $25 per motorcycle. If you are entering on foot, horse, or bike the fee is $15 per person. You can also purchase a park specific annual pass for $55.
March 3, 2021When the winter gate at Longmire is closed this snow hike is an alternative. I did not reach the falls which is approximate 7 miles round trip.
February 6, 2021Snowy and wet!
February 5, 2021Hike from longmire the Paradise. Road was closed because of heavy snow. We broke trail the entire way. 
January 19, 2021We started at the pulloff off the side of the highway. There are patches of snow and ice and we saw one person (with poles) fall just after the staircase down to the river crossing. The log bridge was fine that day, but the trail itself had a lot of patches of packed snow and ice that were slippery. Spikes would have definitely been helpful. After 1.3 miles, we still didn’t see hadn’t seen the falls and decided to turn around because it was getting treacherous with our 2 kids. After talking with other hikers, we may have passed the falls because they were obscured by trees. I would not do this hike with little kids in the winter as the trail is steep at times with a sharp drop off in some spots. We’ll try this one again in summer!
January 16, 2021January 10, 2021the trail was very nice. there is still snow there some of the hills have a lot of ice so having spikes on your shoes will help out a lot.
January 3, 2021First hike of the year. Plan A was to snowshoe from Narada Falls to Reflection Lake but the gate to Paradise was closed. We found out about it from Mt. Rainier NPS twitter just under one hour before we supposed to arrive. We parked at Longmire and asked one of the rangers for choices of nearby trails. She suggested Rampart Ridge or Carter Falls but she said there's not enough snow at this elevation for us to go snowshoeing. We opted for Carter Falls and hiked there with spikes and left our snowshoes in the car. The trail was rather flat for the first 1.6 mi. After the river crossing, the trail started to get more hilly. All trails rated easy if you start from the trailhead with Carter Falls marker, but since we started at Longmire, then I would rate it moderate as it's almost 3 times longer. It was snowing the entire time we were there and couldn't see the Falls that much as the view was obstructed by a few trees. We hiked a little further and there's another viewpoint. Little did we know there's another falls called Madcap Falls. The view was a lot better. Overall it's a wonderful alternative hike when the gate to paradise is closed. I see that you can hike to Narada Falls on this wonderland trail but the snow was a lot deeper so snowshoes were a must.
January 3, 2021Beautiful hike through the snow except no one was wearing masks very unfortunate how stupid people are! 
December 27, 2020Easy family friendly hike.
November 26, 2020Just needed micro spikes
October 27, 2020Three stars for the hike to the falls, but adding another star for the STUNNING view of Rainier at the beginning. Trail is a bit icy and wet at the same time. Icicles forming around the waterfall. The falls were fine, kind of underwhelming. Coming back out, I caught the light from the sunset reflecting off Rainier. Unforgettable.
October 26, 2020October 25, 2020October 25, 2020Icy from waterfall- If you continue onto wonderland trail- less icy and worth the other views!
October 24, 2020October 19, 2020It was good for a beginner. Definitely took longer for me than I thought, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into...it was worth it for my out of shape ass to keep going no matter how many times I had to stop to catch my breath.
October 18, 2020It was nice and quiet, steep at times but awesome power out of the waterfalls!!
October 6, 2020October 3, 2020Very well-kept trail. Pretty easy climb. The bridge at the beginning is beautiful. Overall, enjoyed it very much.
October 3, 2020This is a very nice trail a small part of the Wonderland trail two beautiful falls to see about 1.2 miles up. Beautiful view of Mount Rainier across the river right at the beginning and end.
October 2, 2020
