Mt Rainer Ntnl Park – Going to Paradise
Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning six major rivers. – www.nps.gov
I spent the afternoon touring Mt Rainer National Park… at least the southern portion of it. During my drive up, I called an audible and changed my route in fear that the South-Eastern entrance may not be open. I chose instead to enter the park in the South-Western entrance known as the Nisqually Entrance. Not far into the park is the Longmire Museum (closed), Longmire Inn, and Longmire Wilderness Information Center. As it turns out, this happened to be the only placed staffed with Rangers that could give me some information about hikes (all the Visitor Centers had not yet been staffed). 
I found out that anything above 4500′ in elevation would require full snow gear, and the one trail I was considering – because it was called ‘Van-Trump Park’ – was considered a pretty tough trail and it too would be snowed in. So we worked on a simple plan to sample numerous “easy” places to make sure I could soak in the maximum during my few hours that I had available.
First stop was Christine Falls which the road literally passes right over. The nice Ranger informed me to skip the trailhead and park at the next parking location, which was past the falls by a few hundred feet. From that lot you could step down below the falls an bridge for the optimal photo spot. As you can see, the camera agreed.
Further down the road came the parking lot for Narada Falls which had to be taken in by hiking a quarter-mile or so down the opposite side of the falls. The parking lot is above the falls, which is not a very interesting sight if you ask me. Only when you exerted all that energy by going down the trail are you rewarded with the true splendor of the Narada Falls… complete with a rainbow and mist in your face.
I must mention; thanks to the park opening only this very morning, from that stupid Goverment shutdown, there were only a few dozen other cars in the park with me. Literally, it was a rare occurrence to even see another vehicle in a parking lot, and no one else on the trails at all. If there is one positive from that shutdown it is that the parks got a break from the scourge that we humans are. Good for the parks!
My final ‘no-hike’ stop was at Reflection Lake which lived up to it’s name and gave me a fantastic photo (below) opportunity of the lake and Mt Rainer in the background… and reflection.
I did stop and do small hikes in two other locations, which I will write about separately. I must say, Mt Rainer reminded me a lot of Glacier National Park. The colored water, the tight and twisty mountain road, the super-dense forests, and the mountain views… it all kept reminding me of Glacier, which was not a bad thing at all. Mt Rainer was just as beautiful as Glacier, which is saying a lot.
Here are a few more photos:
