Today we took the 45 mile drive into see Mt Rainier. I
should talk about the mountain’s history first, but I am going to wait, until
later. It was easy to get there, we had to follow WA 410, also known as Mather
Memorial Parkway toward the park.
We stopped at a vista that overlooks both the
William O Douglas and the Norse Peak Wilderness areas. Approximately 40% of
Wenatchee National Forest is administrated as wilderness. The Pacific Crest
Trail allows hiking access to most of these forests. The wilderness was first
identified as unique in 1946, but was not officially designated until 1984.
At this overlook, we found some ripe mountain ash
berries, they really are the color of the Red Busses we took at Glacier
National Park!
We turned onto WA 123, also known as Cayuse Pass and
were soon greeted by the Mt Rainier National Park sign, over the road at Chinook
Pass, this is the northeast entrance to the park.
As we continued on this road, we continued to ascend
and the more we ascended, the foggier it became.
We entered the park at the Stevens Canyon entrance. We
are heading for Paradise. We have heard it is famous for its glorious views and
wildflower meadows. When James Longmire's daughter-in-law, Martha, first saw
this site, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a paradise” and the name stuck. It is
home to the park's main visitor center. The new Paradise Jackson Visitor
Center, is located in an area that receives on average 650 inches of snow a
year. Let’s hope we don’t see any today!
The new Paradise Jackson Visitor Center offers general
information, exhibits, the new park film, guided ranger programs, gift store
and cafeteria. We packed a picnic lunch, but it was too cold to eat outside, so
we enjoyed the warmth of the cafeteria.
We were able to see the Tatoosh Range well from up here, but the fog came in and out against this range too .... but Mt Rainier is not visible ... :(
There are several trails that originate from here. We
took a peek, but did not do any hiking. We did find this cool quote, engraved
on the steps.
We also saw this skier heading back to the Paradise Jackson
Visitor Center and he had snow skis, boots and poles … He must have had to go
pretty high to find snow … he might have even been skiing on a glacier?!
The historic Paradise Inn, offers lodging, a dining
room and a gift shop. The Paradise Inn is usually open from May to
early-October and closed in the winter. The Guide House houses the Paradise
Climbing Information Center, where visitors can obtain climbing permits and
hiking and back country camping information.
To leave the Paradise area, we followed a one-way road,
Paradise Valley Road, through a beautiful meadow filled valley. There was an
unexpected waterfall, flowing into the valley, which we were able to see.
We convinced Charlie to head to Longmire, to hopefully
catch a glimpse of Mt Rainier, since all efforts so far have been futile. With
the establishment of Mount Rainier National Park in 1899, Longmire became park
headquarters. The site had previously served as James Longmire's homestead,
lodging, and mineral springs resort. Although park headquarters are no longer
at Longmire, the original 1916 headquarters building houses a museum that tells
the story of the early days of the park. All of Longmire is now designated a
national historic district.
Nisqually Glacier is one of the larger glaciers on the
southwestern face of Mt Rainier. The glacier is one of the most easily viewed
on the mountain. The glacier has had periods of advance and retreat since 1850
when it was much more extensive. Nisqually Glacier is the source of the
Nisqually River. We wondered what all the downed trees were doing in the
glacier path. Historically, glacial outburst floods, torrential rains, and
stream capture have caused small to moderate size debris flows. Most occur in drainage
systems with large glaciers.
The National Park Inn, has a restaurant and gift shop,
is usually open daily, all year. We sat on the front porch of the National Park
Inn, staring up at as much of Mt Rainier as we could see. It took you back in time
to the early 1900's. It feels like few things have altered since then, but this
simple, rustic building conceals the many changes of its history. The Inn we
see today was not the first or even second building constructed in Longmire for
hotel lodging.
James Longmire built the first accommodations across
the street, about where the Trail of Shadows is now, as a health resort. His
guest cabins were open for business by 1889, and with help from his family,
James added a simple, rustic, two-story hotel. Over the years, his son, added
on to the hotel as well as built bath houses, barns and more. He called the
expanded hotel the Longmire Springs Hotel but kept the informal, family
atmosphere.
Because the Longmires built on land they patented as a
mining claim, the newly formed park management could say little about how the
hotel looked or was run. Over the years, there were arguments about appearances
and operations so the park offered to buy the land and buildings in 1902. The
Longmires refused. To introduce competition, the park leased land across the
road from the Longmires to the Tacoma & Eastern Railroad Company so they
could build a new hotel, the National Park Inn. The new, second, and more
elegant hotel opened in 1906.
The National Park Inn and Annex were run as one hotel
until 1926 when the original National Park Inn burned down, leaving the
clubhouse and Annex. The Annex soon became known as the National Park Inn.
Other changes were happening too. After lab tests confirmed the mineral springs
were not medicinal, the RNPC stopped advertising the Longmire hotel as a health
resort. The National Park Service eventually bought out the Longmires in 1939.
Today, when strolling through the area, little remains of their health resort
except the stonework around a few springs and the reconstructed cabin where
Elcaine Longmire’s cabin once stood. All that remains of the hotels is the
Annex, now the National Park Inn, which started life across the road. The
clubhouse, the oldest building in Longmire, is now the gift shop next to the
National Park Inn. Visiting Longmire today, it’s sometimes hard to imagine the
many changes that have happened here.
Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mt Rainier
stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mt Rainier is
the most glaciated peak in the contiguous US. It spawns five major rivers.
The mountain captivated early European and American
visitors. Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy observed the
mountain while surveying the Pacific coast in 1792 and decided to name the
mountain after his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. Mountaineers made some
of the first non-native incursions on land, eager to summit the iconic peak. PB
Van Trump and his friend General Hazard Stevens made the first recorded climb
of the mountain in 1870 and others would soon follow. In 1883 James Longmire,
on his way down the mountain, found a mineral spring and opened
a hotel and spa there not long after. The entrepreneurial spirit and scenic
appreciation for the mountain that drove Longmire would emerge as key themes in
the future development of Mt Rainier National Park.
We stopped at Christine Falls. It provided us with
exceptional viewing of a powerful falls. This signature view of the lower falls
is framed by the historic, arching Christine Falls Bridge. The falls drop 70
feet total, broken into drops of 33 and 37 feet respectively and are notorious
for being nearly impossible to photograph together.
On our way back to Naches, we stopped at Inspiration Point. It was a large pullout that offered us another chance to get a glimpse of Mt Rainier and the Tatoosh Range.
Narada Falls was the last waterfalls we stopped at. It is said to be the most popular, because the Mount Rainier Highway crosses the falls between its two tiers.
The waterfall drops 188 feet in two tiers of 168 feet and 20 feet (6.1 m). The upper tier is a horsetail that falls in several strands down a nearly sheer cliff, into a canyon that is perpendicular to it. The lower tier is a much smaller plunge. During the winter, the upper falls freezes and becomes a sheer 150 feet of icicles, which attracts many ice climbers.
We also stopped at Reflection Lakes. These sub-alpine lakes
offered us some stunning reflections, just none of them were of Mt Rainier!
As we were leaving the park, we were welcomed back
into the Wenatchee National Forest.
Another great day with Yankee RV Tours!
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