Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park, United States

The snow-capped peak of Mount Rainier seen through a meadow of red and purple wildflowers at sunset.

A volcano that brews its own clouds, with wildflower meadows in summer and some of the heaviest snowfall on record in winter.

The place

Mount Rainier National Park wraps around a single stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of Washington State, in the north-west of the United States. The park spans southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County, and the mountain climbs so steeply from the surrounding land that the lowland valleys and the summit seem to belong to different worlds. It is the highest point in the range. Inside the boundary are river valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows and extensive old-growth forest. Dozens of glaciers run down the flanks of the volcano, and clouds gather around the peak often enough that rain and snow are a constant part of the picture. Access is organised around three general areas, each with its own entrances: Paradise, the Carbon River and Mowich Lake country, and Sunrise on the eastern side. Paradise draws the most people, and it is where most first visits begin. The Wonderland Trail circles the whole mountain, and glaciers and snowfields cover a large share of the summit. Mountaineering is popular, with thousands of attempts a year, and roughly half of those climbers reach the top. Changeable weather is the norm, so the mountain rewards careful planning far more than bold plans.

Its story

The mountain has had many names. Lushootseed and Cowlitz speakers commonly used Tahoma, a phrase usually rendered as snow-covered mountain, and the Lushootseed word Tacoma is the same as that of a nearby city in the Puget Sound region. People have been in the area for a very long time. A stone projectile point turned up along the opening stretch of the Snow Lake Trail, and a rock shelter by Fryingpan Creek holds hunting artifacts left by Columbia Plateau peoples over several centuries. The shelter was not used all year round, which suggests seasonal visits to the high country. The modern park was created to keep the volcano and its surroundings intact. Its boundaries are drawn around the mountain itself, and most of the land has since been designated wilderness, with neighbouring wilderness areas touching its edges. Through the 1920s and 1930s, the National Park Service built lodges and visitor facilities in a rustic style, and the Sunrise Lodge remains one of the clearest examples. The park's historic architecture was later recognised as a National Historic Landmark, so the buildings count as part of the story as much as the scenery. The volcano's shape records its eruptions and the ice that has worked on its flanks since. Carbon Glacier holds the largest volume of ice of any glacier in the contiguous United States, while Emmons Glacier covers the greatest area. The park's ice is far more than a backdrop, and the summer meadows exist because snowmelt spreads across the slopes each year.

What to see

Culture

Mount Rainier National Park sits on land with much older meanings than its park status. The Lushootseed and Cowlitz speakers who knew the mountain called it Tahoma, and that older relationship with the land is still part of how the place is understood today. The park is run by the National Park Service, and much of it is designated wilderness, so the mood on the trails is calm rather than festive. People tend to keep their voices down near the viewpoints and wait for the view to clear before taking photographs, and walkers heading uphill are usually given room to pass. Groups should stay together on the Wonderland Trail, which circles the whole mountain and is used by walkers of every kind. Stay on marked routes and keep well back from wildlife, because the meadows are fragile and slow to recover from trampling.

What to wear

Clothing for Mount Rainier National Park is primarily functional. What people wear here now is practical outdoor clothing: waterproof shells, fleece and wool base layers, sturdy boots and a sun hat for the open meadows. Hikers at Paradise often carry gloves and a warm hat even in summer, because the air cools quickly once cloud covers the sun. There is no formal dress code at the park, and no sacred site requires covered shoulders. What suits a visit is a layered system: a light base layer, an insulating middle layer and a waterproof outer one, since the mountain can bring rain and snow in any month. Choose boots with good grip for wet rock and snow patches, and keep trail shoes for the lower valleys. Avoid cotton on the upper trails, because it holds water and chills the body.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. July to September for wildflower meadows and open roads; Sunrise opens only in summer. Winter brings heavy snow at Paradise, and the Nisqually entrance and Longmire facilities stay open all year. July is the hottest and driest month, while November through January bring the most rain, so the summit stays cold even in summer.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. Fly into Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, then drive to the Nisqually entrance near Ashford, the closest entrance to Seattle and the main route to Paradise. The eastern entrances suit visitors arriving from Yakima and eastern Washington.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

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