MOUNT RAINIER
We had the unique experience of visiting Mount Rainier National Park with two locals, which really informed a lot of what we did in the park, it’s history, and how much the landscape has shifted in the last 60 years in regards to the parks glaciers. Driving from the wild and lush green landscape of Olympic National Park, it was quite an experience to be able to see Rainier on the horizon so far away from the boundaries of the park itself. At over 14,000 feet high, this active volcano dominates the relatively flat landscape that surrounds the park, which is odd considering all the mountain ranges and other volcanoes that create a chain through Washington and Oregon. At the time the Sunrise section of the park was not opened, so we spent our time in the Paradise section and explored that side of the volcano.
On our first day of hiking we got in early so that we could park near the Paradise Visitor Center. Our plan was to meander up through the alpine meadows as we hiked our way along the first half of the Skyline Trail. This involved some off trail meandering through snow fields and a lot of sunblock in order to not be fried to a crisp. Traversing down through snowfields we again caught up with the Skyline Trail as we made our way over a stream and up into the bowl of the trail which could take us up to Panorama Point. We would catch the later half of the trail on the following day, opting to head down the Golden Gate Trail, spotting some goats and wildflowers along the way. On our drive down the park road we stopped at Nisqually Falls and also got a great drive-by view of Christine Falls which we would be above a few days later.
Our second day in the park took us up the other half of the Skyline Trail as we made our way up past Panorama Point to McClure Rock. From this vantage we got great views of Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount Baker as well as hikers on their way up to and down from Camp Muir, the way point up to the summit of Mount Rainier. While we had discussed hiking up to Camp Muir on this day, ultimately we wanted to experience more of the trails within the park that wouldn’t totally wipe us out for the rest of the trip. Coming down from McClure Rock, we stopped at Panorama Point, watching teams of mountaineers practice safety and rescue drills along ice cracks before we ultimately made our way back the same way we had come up along the Skyline Trail. On our drive down the park road this day we stopped at a river access point near the Cougar Rock Campground to see glaciated water and snow melt water mix and followed that up with at stop at Longmire to hike the Trail of Shadows.
Our final day in the park brought us to Comet Falls. This hike provided for a great deal of elevation gain as we moved through deep forest and over streams, eventually reaching the impressive Comet Falls. We continued up from here to the still snow covered Van Trump Park section of the trail, turning around when we realized that we were still too early for a lot of the wildflower bloom within the park. While the Sunrise section of Mount Rainier was on our horizon for 2025, complications in our trip to the Pacific Northwest made us abandon ship. We look forward to returning to Rainier in the future.
Mount Rainier National Park is on the traditional and stolen land of the Cowlitz, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Yakama, and Coast Salish people.
Listen while you look! These buttons will link you to the podcast episode(s) for this park and gallery.
