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from the A*List Deals Weekly Newsletter
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Mount Rainier National Park Tour
Excerpt from National Geographic Guide to the National Parks: West guidebook
Photo by Danny Warren
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Washington's Mount Rainier is reflected in a small tarn near Pinnacle Pass. |
One of the world's most massive volcanoes, Mount Rainier can dominate the skyline for 100 miles (161 kilometers) before you reach the park named after it. The tallest peak in the Cascade Range may be the centerpiece of the park, but it is hardly the only attraction. Here, less than three hours' drive from Seattle, you can stroll through seemingly endless fields of wildflowers, listen to a glacier flow, wander among trees nearly a thousand years old. The park's convenient location, however, also leads to weekend traffic jams, both summer and winter, and guarantees you company on popular trails.
*Bolded names and numbers in the text below correspond with our map of this tour.Download the tour map
(To download this PDF, you will need the free Adobe Reader.)
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The pilgrimage to Paradise has been a classic for nearly a century. The first miles of your tour wind through a forest of giant Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock. As you cross Kautz Creek, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the Nisqually Entrance, look for flood debris and dead trees amid the recovering forest. In 1947 the Kautz Glacier disgorged a flash flood of meltwater. The flood raged down the creek valley, carrying volcanic debris, trees, and boulders, and burying the road under 28 feet (8.5 meters) of mud. Similar, though mostly smaller, mudflows occur at least every few years at Mount Rainier.
Park at Longmire Museum, 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the entrance. Pioneer James Longmire discovered mineral springs here in 1883 and built Mount Rainier's first hotel; his ads for miraculous water cures helped generate early tourism and a constituency for the creation of the park. Take time for the easy half-mile (.8 kilometer) Trail of the Shadows that starts on the opposite side of the main road. While in Longmire, also visit the Wilderness Information Center (closed Oct.-late April) for trail and weather information and backcountry permits.
A few other trails originate in Longmire, but they pale in comparison with those waiting farther along the road. Except, of course, for the aptly named Wonderland Trail. This route is a circle, so it doesn't exactly start at Longmire, but it is here that most visitors first cross its path. This 93-mile (150-kilometer) trail winds all the way around Mount Rainier, passing through deep forest, skirting along overgrown creeks and lakes, rising into alpine meadows, and edging so close to glaciers that you can feel their icy breath. Visitors who lack the time and the stamina for 93 miles (150 kilometers) can fashion shorter loops by combining the Wonderland with numerous access trails.
Back in your car, continue east for about 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometers), then take the spur road to the right to Ricksecker Point. To the south loom the sawtoothed peaks of the Tatoosh Range, dramatic remains of lava flows that predated Mount Rainier by some 25 million to 35 million years. Glaciers that developed and receded during the last million years carved the sharp pinnacles and the steep-sided mountainside hollows called cirques. Below meanders the Nisqually River, originating at the snout of the Nisqually Glacier, which faces you on Mount Rainier. This glacier is about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) long and flows downhill a foot every summer's day.
Rejoin the highway. Another 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) brings you to the Narada Falls pullover. The shimmering, 168-foot (51-meter) plunge of the Paradise River is well worth the steep but short walk down to the viewing area below the bridge. Climb back up to your car; in less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) you'll reach the most popular part of the park.
"It looks just like paradise!'' exclaimed Martha Longmire in 1885 on first sighting the rolling hills swathed in wildflowers and framed by Mount Rainier's white dome. An average of 140 inches (356 centimeters) of precipitation falls here each year; as many as 40 species of flowers bloom on the thin, volcanic soil during July and August. Park near the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, or the Paradise Inn, built in 1917.
The center doubles as a museum, which spirals up through several levels of exhibits on Mount Rainier's geology, ecology, and wildlife; it also covers the history of climbing the mountain. At the top, enormous windows afford expansive views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
Begin your exploration of Paradise meadows on the Nisqually Vista Trail (1.2 miles/1.9 kilometers), especially if time is short. This easy, self-guided nature walk starts at the staircase to the west of the visitor center. Its booklet acquaints you with the geology and meadow life of Mount Rainier. John Muir once called these meadows "the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I have beheld." In July and August, with the snow finally melted, these slopes are ablaze with flowering plants.
Make sure you stay on the path, no matter how tempting a meadow stroll. Trampling by just a few people can kill these fragile plants. Park staffers are still at work replanting old trails and other damaged areas. Only recently have the meadows recovered from the Camp of the Clouds, a tent city in operation here from 1898 to 1915. Not only people damage meadows, though. Elk, introduced in the first part of the century and now numbering some 2,000 inside the park, trample and graze the meadows. Researchers are seeking a solution to the problem.
If you're up to tackling some steep hills, try the 5-mile (8-kilometer) Skyline Trail. Start from the staircase west of the visitor center. The trail will take you to Panorama Point for some spectacular views.
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