Mount Rainier

People who live in the Seattle often describe a clear day by saying, “The mountains are out.” They could be referring to either the Olympic Range to the west or the Cascades to the east. However, when Seattleites say, “The mountain is out,” they only mean one mountain: Mount Rainier, the volcanic peak that dominates the skyline to the south. Perhaps, the only thing more impressive than seeing Mount Rainier straight ahead as you drive down I-5 is being up on the slopes of the behemoth when the mountain is out.

Read our Mount Rainier itinerary

Mount Rainier was the seventh of seven national parks (plus three other NPS sites) we visited on our 31-day road trip. We were a little concerned that after the majesty of Yellowstone, the awesomeness of Glacier, the adventures at Olympic, etc. etc., we might be numb to beautiful natural settings by the time we got to Rainier. Upon our arrival, no such problem.

Today, Mount Rainier may sometimes play second fiddle to some of the other national parks in the west, but this area was among the first natural places preserved by the U.S. Government as a national park. In fact, Mount Rainier is the 4th U.S. National Park, established in 1899 after Yellowstone (1872), Yosemite (1890), and Sequoia (1890).

Some other fun facts about Mount Rainier can help put the mountain and the park in perspective.

The indigenous peoples of the area called the mountain Tahoma, most likely meaning “mother of waters” in the Salish language spoken by the local Puyallup people. The name “Rainier” was given by British explorer George Vancouver.

At 14,411 feet, Mount Rainier is the 5th tallest peak above sea level in the United States, outside of Alaska. The mountain also possesses the largest glaciers in the U.S. outside of Alaska. The first ascent was made in 1870. Meanwhile, the most recent volcanic activity was 1894 — just yesterday in geological terms.

For more than 120 years, visitors have been enjoying the towering peak of Tahoma in Mount Rainier National Park.

We arrived late in the day after trekking down from Olympic and stopping in the city of Tacoma for lunch, groceries, and gas. At the Nisqually entrance we were welcomed by rustic wooden arch with a hanging sign. We spent our late afternoon at Longmire, one of the original settlements near the mountain.

We talked to a Park Ranger and acquired our final set of Junior Ranger workbooks. We hiked the Trail of Shadows — a short stroll through an area that used to contain a hotel and mineral baths. And we checked out the suspension bridge over the Nisqually River, that gave us a glimpse of the mountain.

Even though it was a clear, warm day, the mountain peak was shrouded in clouds. Still it was a magnificent site, towering more than 11,000 feet above our current elevation. A short drive to Cougar Rock campground, and we settled in for the night.

We awoke the next morning quite early. As we drove up the mountain in a light drizzle, we felt like the only people on the road. As we got higher, the cloud ceiling got closer, and we started to think this may not be the best day to gain vistas of the mountain. By the time we reached Paradise, we were in the soup.

As we waited for the visitor center to open, we sat in a parking lot with nothing to see but clouds in all directions. Our plan this day was to hike up the mountain from Paradise, but our conversation with the Ranger confirmed that we needed to call an audible. So, we simply flip-flopped our days, planning to come back to Paradise tomorrow (fingers crossed for clear skies), and deciding to explore some lower elevation sights and hikes on this day.

We headed toward the Ohanapecosh section of the park, stopping at Box Canyon for a look around and short stroll. Then we hit the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center, which is located in the campground and — for what it’s worth — poorly signed.

We explored Grove of Patriarchs with its huge trees and the swinging bridge, and then we headed straight to Silver Falls. We covered about 3.7 miles total on both hikes. Both the grove of big trees and the falls are a must see, if a bit overcrowded.

Next stop was Sunrise. By all rights, Sunrise would have been better on a clear day. But at 6,400 feet (1,000 higher than Paradise) Sunrise is on the northeast face of the mountain and the area wasn’t engulfed in clouds the way Paradise was on the south face. We even got some peeks at the peak from the Emmons Vista Natural Trail. We opted not to hike up on to Sourdough Ridge, because visibility did look limited from up there.

It poured rain on the way back down the mountain, though, we were able to get dinner cooked and eaten under just a sprinkle. Given that this was the final night in the camper van, and because it was going to be cold at night, we decided not to pop the top and just squeeze into the queen-sized bed (one dad and two daughters) for warmth and fun.

The next morning, we were awake and driving up the mountain before 6am, and it was very cold. As we turned a corner on the same road we had driven yesterday, we were met with a stark sight. In the precise place where we previously saw only an overcast sky, now there was an enormous mountain. There she was, in all her glory: Tahoma. The mountain is out!

The parking lot at Paradise was buzzing. As we opened up our van and cooked some breakfast, we looked around at the hikers and mountaineers preparing for their day. Next to us was a dad and two kids — a bit older than the girls — who were planning to head up to Camp Muir and back. That’s a day hike that involves crossing the glacier, and is now a goal for our next visit!

Our destination today was the Skyline Trail to it’s upper vista. At the trail head is a set of cement stairs with a quote from John Muir calling Tahoma, “…the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”

As we wandered through this alpine garden, surrounded by wildflowers and marmots and over-watched by the mountain herself, we felt the awe that Muir described.

Skyline is not a hike for everyone, but for those who can handle the elevation and the exercise, it is a must hike. The trees and the streams offering just as much beauty as the mountain. As a bonus, looking to the south we could see Mount Adams and Mount Saint Helens — Tahoma’s volcanic sisters — in the distance.

We reached numerous lookouts where — with our binoculars — we could see Camp Muir and hikers crossing the glacier en route. We also played in glacier snow pack and bounded over streams with small cascading water falls. One of the highlights was a distant view of a huge glacial-melt water fall connecting the Nisqually Glacier and the Nisqually River.

We decided to take the short cut down the mountain via the Golden Gate Trail linking back up with Skyline near Myrtle Falls — another breathtaking vista of the mountaintop. Total hike for us was 5.4 miles and 1,640 feet in elevation.

Perhaps the best part of the hike in Paradise, was that when we finished, we walked right into the historic Paradise Inn, where we’d made a reservation for the final night of the trip. We stayed in a cozy 105-year old room in this rustic, classically national-park hotel. We visited the gift shop for some final tokens. We showered, and we relaxed.

The next morning, because the mountain was still out, we made our way down to Reflection Lake for some quintessential photographs. And then we were off to Seattle to drop off the camper van.

Across 31 days and seven national parks, we could not have asked for a better ending than our final days at Mount Rainier.

USA Today Op-Ed

Olympic National Park