Mount Rainier National Park is the United States National Park that includes the iconic Mount Rainier and surrounding land totaling 236,381 acres.
Table of Contents
Landscape
The park includes (of course) Mt. Rainier which is a volcano and in the surrounding landscape, you might find meadows with wildlflowers in the Summer, waterfalls, glaciers (flanking the mountains), and plenty of wildlife. The park includes a great deal of old-growth forest.
Map and Entrances
As it’s a National Park, you’ll either need to pay a fee at entry or have a National Park pass to get in.
Mt. Rainier National Park has five entrances! The park’s website urges visitors to check the map and not just rely on GPS to get to one of the entrances.
We were going to enter a map pin with directions for each entrance — but as some places — like the Chinook Pass entrance pictured in the photo above — may close in the winter, we’ve decided just to link to the NPS website for this as we don’t want to be misleading.
Please check this page on the NPS website for more detailed directions to each entrance, as well as a map and information about road closures.
Routes
When we post any new routes in the park, we’ll add them here. We have at least one we haven’t posted yet!
If you have a route you’d like to add you can add a route here.
Photos
Below are photos taken around Mount Rainier National Park that we’ve added or visitors have added. We may have larger copies of these photos on PNWLens, but if we do, we’ll try to add a link in the image description.
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Below are some recommended resources for visiting the park.
Park Maps and Day Hike Resources
- Scale: 1 : 100000
- Folded Dimensions: 4.25 x 9.25 in
- Waterproof: yes
- Recommended Use: hiking, backpacking in Washington
- National Geographic Maps – Trails Illustrated (Author)
- Judd, Ron C. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages – 03/19/2019 (Publication Date) – Sasquatch Books (Publisher)
- National Geographic Maps – Trails Illustrated (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 48 Pages – 04/18/2023 (Publication Date) – National Geographic Maps (Publisher)
- Skjelset, Mary (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 136 Pages – 06/04/2024 (Publication Date) – Falcon Guides (Publisher)
- Asars, Tami (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 256 Pages – 05/29/2018 (Publication Date) – Mountaineers Books (Publisher)
Wonderland Trail
Below are some guides for hiking the Wonderland Trail, which is a 93 mile hike that goes around Mount Rainier. Hiking the trail (we have not done so and likely won’t at this point, but would have loved to) requires getting a wilderness permit and only so many are given out every year. There’s an early-access lottery that opens in February each year.
- Asars, Tami (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 272 Pages – 10/01/2024 (Publication Date) – Mountaineers Books (Publisher)
- HIKING WONDERLAND TRAIL
- Asars, Tami (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 256 Pages – 07/24/2012 (Publication Date) – Mountaineers Books (Publisher)
- Wonderland Trail #1014
- National Geographic Maps – Trails Illustrated (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 04/16/2018 (Publication Date) – Natl Geographic Society Maps (Publisher)
Questions and Answers
Below is a forum for asking (and answering) questions, you can also find it on our forums page. If you have an answer to a posted question, please feel free to post your answer.
[wpforo item=”forum” id=”24″]Wikipedia and List of On and Off-Site Related Resources
When available, we import some Wikipedia information to supplement terms. If available, you’ll find that below followed by a list of on and offsite related articles and automatically linked articles on our website that mention this term. Note that you’ll need to scroll down below the Wikipedia stuff to find the related content list. We hope to change this in the future.
Description generated by Gemini
This is an AI-generated description of this term, so please take that into consideration when you are assessing the content
Mount Rainier National Park is a 236,381-acre national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state, surrounding Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano. Established in 1899 as the fifth national park in the United States, the park protects a vast wilderness encompassing diverse ecosystems, ranging from old-growth forests and subalpine meadows to alpine tundra and glaciers.
Key features of Mount Rainier National Park include:
- Mount Rainier: The park's centerpiece and namesake, a 14,410-foot (4,392-meter) volcano and the highest mountain in the Cascade Range. It's considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world due to its proximity to populated areas and its extensive glacial ice cover.
- Glaciers: Mount Rainier boasts 25 major glaciers, the most of any mountain in the lower 48 states, including the Carbon Glacier and the Emmons Glacier.
- Old-growth Forests: The park's lower elevations are covered in dense old-growth forests, dominated by Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar.
- Wildflowers: Subalpine meadows explode with colorful wildflowers during the summer months, creating breathtaking displays.
- Wildlife: The park is home to a variety of wildlife, including black bears, mountain goats, elk, deer, and marmots.
- Hiking and Recreation: The park offers hundreds of miles of hiking trails, ranging from easy nature walks to challenging climbs. Other recreational activities include camping, backpacking, fishing, and mountain climbing.
- Paradise: One of the most popular areas of the park, located on the south slope of Mount Rainier and known for its stunning views and wildflowers.
- Sunrise: The highest point in the park reachable by car, offering panoramic views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding mountains.
Mount Rainier National Park is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers, attracting millions of visitors each year.
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