Our Journey in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

We spent four days at Mount Rainier National Park. My husband and I list it as one of our top three destinations of the summer of 2007. This is my account of what we did and how we saw Mount Rainier.

Some general information

Mount Rainer has four entrances: Nisqually, the Carbon River, the White River and the Stevens Canyon Road. Mount Rainier is a 14, 411- foot volcano covered with ice and snow. It's dormant but not extinct. While we were there it was 20 degrees warmer than usual. There were signs in the Visitor Centers that the warmer weather could cause mudslides and if we were to hear a rumbling that sounded like a train to seek higher ground. I got over my fear of being there quickly because it was just so beautiful.

The Park is open every day. The Nisqually entrance is open year round. You'll pay $15.00 to enter unless you have a National Park Passport which costs $80.00. An annual pass to Mount Rainier is $40.00

Day 1: There are four visitor centers. When we first arrived we went to Longmire which is open 9:00 to 5:00 May through September and until 4:00 the rest of the year.

We went into the Longmire Museum where we find some interesting exhibits on the history of Mount Rainier. It's a small building and was a bit musty on this hot day but we went back a second time and found it much better.

Look for the Ranger walks especially if it is late in the day. It was too late for us to start a hike so at 3:00 we went with a Ranger on a .7 mile walk called Trail of the Shadows. It was very informative and when he was done in about ½ hour he said he'd do the rest of the loop if anyone wanted. So of course we did because we got to learn so much more than we could otherwise. We learned about the hot springs and the Native Americans who helped other settlers on this mountain.