Mount Rainier National Park

About

Mount Rainier National Park sits about two hours southeast of Seattle and protects one of the tallest, most heavily glaciated peaks in the contiguous United States. Mount Rainier itself rises 14,410 feet above sea level, and its steep, symmetrical cone is visible across much of the Puget Sound region on clear days. It is an active stratovolcano, built from thousands of layers of lava and ash, and is considered one of the most potentially hazardous volcanoes in the country because of the sheer amount of glacial ice on its flanks. The most recent confirmed eruptions were recorded in 1820 and 1854.

The park covers 369 square miles and includes old-growth Douglas fir and western red cedar forest at lower elevations, sweeping subalpine meadows in the Paradise and Sunrise areas, and glaciers radiating off the summit in every direction. Wildflower season in July and August at Paradise is one of the great alpine displays in the country, and the Wonderland Trail, a 93-mile loop around the mountain, is one of the classic backpacking routes in the Pacific Northwest.

Rainier’s weather is famously unpredictable, and the mountain’s scale means conditions at Paradise can look nothing like the parking lot at Longmire. That variability is part of why a Mount Rainier road trip works well as a multi-day retreat, usually paired with Seattle, Mount St. Helens, or Olympic National Park on a longer Pacific Northwest tour.