Mount Rainier National Park
State Route 706
Ashford, WA
The great ice-clad volcano that Washingtonians simply call the Mountain, ringed by some of the finest wildflower meadows in the country.
Mount Rainier is the giant that presides over western Washington, an active volcano rising more than fourteen thousand feet in glorious isolation, so dominant on the skyline that locals simply call it the Mountain. It carries more glaciers and permanent snowfield than any other peak in the contiguous United States, a crown of ice that feeds rivers and waterfalls in every direction.
Below that ice lie some of the most celebrated wildflower meadows in the country. In the short weeks of high summer, the subalpine parklands at Paradise and Sunrise erupt in color beneath the glaciers, a contrast of flowers and ice that has drawn people to the Mountain for well over a century.
What Guests Love
- A single towering volcano, over 14,000 feet, that dominates the horizon for a hundred miles
- The wildflower meadows at Paradise and Sunrise, ablaze in midsummer
- More glaciers and permanent ice than any other peak in the Lower 48
- Old-growth forests, waterfalls, and the classic mountain lodges below the ice
Worth Knowing
- The high areas at Paradise and Sunrise are snowbound much of the year, so the wildflower and hiking season is short, roughly midsummer into early fall
- Rainier makes its own weather and the summit is often hidden in cloud, so a clear day is a gift and worth chasing
- Summer weekends are crowded, and timed-entry reservations have been used for the busiest corridors, so check current entry rules and arrive early
- This is an active volcano and its valleys are lahar paths, so heed posted warnings near the rivers
Details
Ashford, WA
Learn about Mount Rainier National Park
A mountain of ice
Rainier is an active stratovolcano, built up over hundreds of thousands of years by countless eruptions, and though it sleeps now it is far from dead. What sets it apart is its ice: the peak wears more glaciers than any other in the Lower 48, a vast system of rivers of ice like the Nisqually, Emmons, and Carbon that grind slowly down its flanks and give birth to the streams that ring the park.
That ice is also the mountain's chief hazard. Rainier's greatest danger is not lava but the lahar, a fast-moving flow of mud and debris that can race down the river valleys when ice, rock, and water let loose. The valleys below have carried great lahars before and will again someday, which is why the park watches the mountain closely and marks escape routes near the rivers.
Paradise, Sunrise, and the meadows
The park's two great high viewpoints are Paradise on the mountain's south side and Sunrise on the east, the highest point you can drive to on Rainier. Both sit in subalpine meadows that, for a few weeks each summer once the deep snow finally melts, bloom in a riot of lupine, paintbrush, avalanche lily, and dozens more, right at the foot of the glaciers.
The name Paradise is said to have come from a visitor in the pioneering Longmire family who, seeing the flowered meadows for the first time, exclaimed that it must be what paradise looked like. The historic Paradise Inn and the network of trails that fan out from these spots have made them the heart of the park experience for generations.
The Mountain's people and its park
Long before it was a park, Rainier was a sacred landmark to the Native peoples of the region, who knew it by names such as Tahoma or Tacoma. Its meadows, berry fields, and slopes were part of the seasonal round of the Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Squaxin Island, Cowlitz, Yakama, and other tribes, whose ties to the Mountain continue today.
The park itself is one of the country's oldest. Mount Rainier was established in 1899 as the fifth national park in the United States, set aside to protect the great volcano and its forests and meadows. Its rustic lodges, stone-and-timber architecture, and the roughly ninety-three-mile Wonderland Trail that circles the peak are legacies of that long history.
Forests, wildlife, and the seasons
Below the meadows and ice, Rainier holds magnificent old-growth forest, groves of ancient Douglas fir, western hemlock, and red cedar in valleys like the Grove of the Patriarchs, along with waterfalls, cold rivers, and mossy trails. The range of elevations packs an unusual variety of habitats into one mountain.
Wildlife follows the seasons up and down the slopes: black bears foraging in the berry fields, elk and deer in the meadows and forests, marmots whistling from the rocks, and mountain goats on the high crags, with eagles and hawks overhead. Summer, roughly July into September, is the season for the meadows and the high roads; the rest of the year snow rules the upper mountain, and Paradise becomes a winter playground of deep powder and snowshoe trails.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Ashford
Paradise
Inside the park, south side
The park's iconic subalpine meadow and viewpoint below the glaciers, home to the historic Paradise Inn, a visitor center, and trails through the summer wildflowers.
Grove of the Patriarchs
Ohanapecosh area, southeast park
A short trail to a river island of ancient, enormous old-growth trees, some more than a thousand years old, on the mountain's quieter southeast side.
Sunrise
Northeast side of the park
The highest point reachable by road on Rainier, with sweeping close-up views of the Emmons Glacier and meadows that bloom late into summer.