Overview

Hype:

Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established in 1899 as the fourth national park in the United States, preserving 236,381 acres including all of Mount Rainier, a 14,410-foot stratovolcano. The mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from 1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet. The highest point in the Cascade Range, Mount Rainier is surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and 91,000 acres of old-growth forest. More than 25 glaciers descend the flanks of the volcano, which is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow. Mount Rainier is covered by glaciers and snowfields totaling about 35 square miles. Carbon Glacier is the largest glacier by volume in the contiguous United States, while Emmons Glacier is the largest glacier by area. Mount Rainier is a popular peak for mountaineering with some 10,000 attempts per year with approximately 50% making it to the summit.

Time:

Fees:

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Links: https://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier_National_Park

Maps

Closest City or Region: Washington

Coordinates: 46.716943, -121.577358

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July 11, 2023 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Savannah Dye, Madilyn Dye, Cooper Dye, Greg Dye, Laura Dye, Anthony Dye, Arianne Dye, Miller Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Jaren Wagner, Killian Wagner, Calliope Wagner, Burnett Extended Family,

Story

Tuesday, we fixed breakfast for the group then everyone packed sack lunches and we all went to the southeast end of Mt Rainier to hike the Silver Falls loop trail. 

We had a hard time finding parking for everyone, so we rented a campsite so we could park there. On the trail, our group spread out quite a bit because some were a lot faster hikers than others. Drew thought his kids took the wrong trail and went running to find them, but they were actually with the group down at the falls. Savannah came down and told me they needed a runner to go catch Drew and Tiffany, so I offered. When I got back to the falls, almost everyone had moved on. Kingston was hungry, so our small group stayed at the falls and ate lunch. We regrouped at the trailhead then set out on the drive back through the park. The plan was to visit several roadside waterfalls on the drive back, but the road was closed. Instead, we stopped at a sculpture gallery to check out all the cool rusty metal sculptures. 

Wednesday, Savannah and Madi stayed at the cabins with the Martins. The rest of us went to the visitor center. There was such a large group and no one really had any plans so we ended up at the visitor center for more than 2 hours trying to regroup and decide what to do next. 

On the positive side, the sweatshirts in the bookstore were half off and we got 2 for $12.50 each. There were some parking issues and different people with different hiking wants, so we split up. My parents, Leslie, Cooper, and I drove down to a lower trailhead while Tara, Anthony family, and Ondy family hiked from the visitor center to the lower trailhead. Well, there were a couple problems with our plan. The first problem is that there wasn't actually a trail connecting the upper waterfall to the lower pullout. The second problem was that the upper waterfall lookout was closed. 

So all of the hikers got up to the top looked at the river above the waterfall and then head to hike back to the visitor center and down the road to the pull out. Luckily it wasn't a long trail so we were able to rejoin without too much headache. After we all rejoined, we still couldn't leave because someone else from the main group was wanting to go home with us instead of doing the big hike. I was getting antsy by that point and didn't want to spend the whole day waiting for people to figure out what they wanted to do, so Anthony's car and our car split off and went to the eastern end of the park so we could view all of the roadside attractions coming back west. We stopped at a handful of waterfalls and lakes along the road. 

Anthony's group got bored with stuff and went back to the Airbnb and we finished the roadside attractions. The best waterfalls were the ones that we visited after everyone else split off so we were the only ones that got to see the good ones. 

Our last stop for the day was the Longmire Museum. It was a bit disappointing. Then we went back to the cabins. 

Pictures