There are several different ways to hike to Indian Henry's. Our route of choice was up the Tahoma Creek Trail, which is accessed up the Westside Road. You can only drive up the road part of the way before walking due to flood damage, but before long, the trail splits off.
Before long, the Tahoma Creek Trail takes you across a large draw bridge. The Park had several of these, and I thought they were really cool.
From there, the hike into Indian Henry's was fairly strenuous, but well worth it. Switchbacks were the name of the game. When we arrived, we were greeted by vast, open meadows. We were obviously there about two weeks before the prime wildflower bloom that will eventually boast vast color arrays and many varieties of flowers (see my Berkeley Park entry), but we were still treated to an array of avalanche lilies, with a few glacier lilies mixed in. These are the first two types of wildflowers to sprout up after the snow melts. Sometimes they will even peak up through a couple of inches of snow.
Although the diversity of color wasn't there, I was still impressed. Note: the abundant, white flowers are avalanche lilies. If you look closely, you can see some wilted, yellow glacier lilies.
The views of Rainier lived up to expectations as well.
The cabin is an old ranger station, used by park employees and backcountry rangers on patrol. 
After eating lunch and hanging out at the cabin for a little while, it was time to get moving again. There was one more point of attraction that we wanted to see, an area called Mirror Lakes.
We met up with some other friends that had hiked to Indian Henry's from a different access point. They informed us that they had already been to Mirror Lakes and they weren't much more than a "muddy puddle". My roommate, Shenon, seemed surprised. He had been there the previous year and said it was beautiful. Either way, we decided to go check it out for ourselves, as the detour wasn't too far away.
The trail itself was a bit of a muddy mess getting to Mirror Lakes, likely a result of recently melted snow. There was a small runoff stream next to the trail, where we discovered this cascades frog:
From there, we weren't too far from Mirror Lakes. When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised.
Muddy puddle? You be the judge:
Sure, it wasn't the most impressive lake I've ever seen, but I'm not sure if I'd use the words "muddy" or "puddle"! Gorgeous!
From there, we followed an unmaintained trail closer to The Mountain, which eventually dropped into a basin that was still holding quite a bit of snow.
Shenon and Charlie, with Pyramid Peak and Rainier in the background:
From here, it was time to think about heading back. Charlie took out his map and started closely examining it, as if he was coming up with an alternate plan. Turns out, that's exactly what he was plotting. There was a small creek nearby, and if we followed it to our south, it looked like we would eventually run into the Wonderland Trail. From there, we wouldn't be too far from Longmire (where we lived). Then we could simply take a car back to the Westside road to pick up Shenon's vehicle, which was parked where we started the hike. The topographic map indicated that the terrain between our current location and the Wonderland Trail was steep in some areas, but doable. We decided to go for it! My first real off-trail hiking experience.
Before long, we came to the creek we were looking for. Before following it, we stopped to enjoy an awesome view of Mount Adams (another active Cascade volcano) in the distance.
We continued heading south, following the creek. We were dealing with some steep terrain that often required us to grab ahold of a tree or bush to avoid falling downhill. I think all of us stumbled at least once or twice, but luckily we weren't dealing with any "sheer" drop-offs. After a good three hours of this type of terrain, things finally started to level out, and we knew we were getting closer to the Wonderland Trail.
Along the way, we found some kind of animal track that looked pretty fresh. We set a pen next to it for size reference.
Maybe a bear? Maybe something else. Whatever it was, it was something large.
Just around the time all three of us were really getting tired of the off-trail bushwhacking, we hit the wonderland trail. Yeah! The hardest part of the hike was behind us. We still had some uneven terrain in front of us, but the trail was a welcome addition.
By this time, we had dropped back into the old growth forest, consisting primarily of Douglas fir, western red cedar and western hemlock. It had been a beautiful day, but that also meant that the mesquitos were out in full force. Charlie was wearing long sleeves and long pants, but Shenon and I were getting bitten pretty badly. After a while, Shenon couldn't handle it anymore, and drenched his whole body with about half a can of bug spray. I think I'd rather just put up with the bugs.
The wonderland trail led us within about 200 yards of our house, and we arrived just in time for me. I didn't want to say anything while hiking, but I had been out of water for the last two or three miles. Lesson learned! After rehydrating, we went and picked up Shenon's car, relishing in the opportunity to sit down.
It was a great day spent with great people, while enjoying an awesome place. We got a little sore and a little dirty, but that's what it's all about.
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