The park is divided into a five distinct areas each one offering something that the other areas don’t offer. I have selected to stay in the Longmire area and have traveled to the Paradise area today. Paradise was not so much paradise today with the heavy fog and light rain, it was colder than in Alaska! The other three areas of the park are Ohanapecosh, Sunrise and Carbon River. Sunrise is the highest point in the park which you can drive to and the best entrance for this is the East or Northeast entrances, coming in at the White River entrance. These entrances are along the Mather Memorial Parkway, route 410. A note to remember is that the road to Sunrise is open from July to early October so if you want to go to Sunrise keep these dates in mind. Sunrise has a visitor center but that would be only open when the road is open. The other entrances are the Stevens Canyon entrance near the Ohanapecosh section of the park and there is a visitor center here before the entrance. Paradise and Longmire both are on the same section of the park, the southwest. I chose the entrance Nisqually and have to say that the line to get into the park today was about a 30 minute wait with both lines open. This entrance is off of the 706 highway. The last entrance is on the northwest and it is the Carbon River entrance. The park has many campground options to choose from for your camping pleasure and all can be reserved at recreation.gov. Mowich Lake is in the Carbon River area and is on a lake as the name would suggest. This campground has 10 primitive sites and no water is available for this campground, so hump it in and out. Sunrise section has White River campground. The campground is at 4,232 feet ad has 112 sites with flush toilets. Restrictions on vehicle size is 27ft for an RV and 18ft for a trailer. Ohanapecosh also has a campground with the same name near the visitor center in Ohanapecosh. This campground has 188 sites with flush toilets. Restructions on the size of vehicle is 35ft for RV and 27ft for a trailer. Cougar Rock supports the Longmire and Paradise sections of the park and it was the one that I chose, more below. The Paradise area also has the Paradise Inn, opened seasonally, and so does the Longmire area has the National Park Inn, which is open year round. The park also allows you to summit Mount Rainier at 14,410 it is quite high. Each year about 10,000 people attempt to climb to the top but only about 1/2 of those who go out actually make it to the top. To climb to the top you have to register and get a permit. The permit is required if you want to go above 10,000 as part of the permit pays for the NPS to come get you if you get into trouble. I have to say that the trees in this park are enormous! I love being in the old growth forest here in Washington state. The visitor center at Paradise was closed but there was a few rangers to answer questions and make sure you got your stamp. Also the gift store/deli was open but required everyone to have a mask, even if you were vaccinated.
Narada Falls – The falls trail is short but it is fairly steep. I would say that the trail is less than 1/2 mile long but it has an elevation gain/loss of a few hundred feet. The falls was created after Mount Rainier erupted sending andesite lava into the ancient valleys and cut into Tatoosh granodiorite, a much harder rock. The Paradise river is eroding the softer lava rocks and when it does this erosion a waterfall is created. Narada falls is cool and when the sun is out you can even see a rainbow at the bottom of the falls caused by water spray. I did not get to see the rainbow due to the clouds and rain.
Skyline Trail – The trail head is at the Paradise Visitor center and you head up. The visitor center is at 5,740 feet and Panorama point is at 6,800 feet. You get to do the climb of over 1,000 feet in about 2 miles one way. The trail is paved for the beginning part then you get to the stairs area and it is crushed rock. There are signs all around to stay on the trail and not venture off trail as the meadows’ foliage has a very short growing season. If you impact that growing season it is most likely the plants will not come back, so don’t ruin it for others! Along the trail there are many places to stop and catch your breath while not impacting the meadow and I think I used most of them on the way up. At the top of the trail you are rewarded with majestic views of Nisqually Glacier and the water fall from the glacier. You can also see Mt. St. Helens in the distance along with two other mountains, I can’t remember their names. The resting areas at the top also are great places to stop and have a snack, which I did but please don’t feet the animals! The way down I stayed on the trail for only about 0.68 miles when I took a different trail down the mountain.
Glacier Vista / Deadhorse Creek Trail – The way down I choose to go off of the Skyline trail and went on the Glacier Vista trail. This trail is also paved in parts and others is crushed stone but it is much less traveled path to/from Panorama Point. If you choose this route you will have to catch the Skyline trail and deal with the masses of people heading up/down. The masses of people kinda reminded me of the hike in Zion of the Narrows hence why I choose this trail for the way down. Less people and commotion to disrupt a wonderful hike.
Moraine Trail – On the way down I came across some volunteers putting some rope lines up to keep people on the trail and protect the meadow. Stay on the trail please. The volunteers suggested the Moraine trail as it is only 0.5 miles one way so out and back is 1 mile. This little gem of a hike takes you to the side of where the glacier has receded. The hike was downhill out and up back but I do have to say if you stay to the right when at an intersection you will have some wonderful views of the glacier, waterfalls and can be amazed by the leftovers from the receding glacier. The path down was mostly dirt and in spots was very wet. A large tree was blocking the path so over the tree you have to go. At the bottom of the trail is a rock creek (no water) and once you cross that and go up a few yards the views are worth the climb. Let’s keep this one a secret as it is a nice quiet hike with spectacular views.
Cougar Rock Campground – The campground supports the Longmire and Paradise sections of the park. The campground has 5 loops with loop F being for group sites only. Loop A has 28 sites and 1 rest room with running water but it does have 9 pull through sites, if that is what you are needing. Loop B has 35 sites but no restroom in the loop the ones in A and C are close by however. Loop B has 11 pull through sites. Loop C has 39 sites and has two restrooms within the loop. C loop also houses the campground host in spot 39 and has 16 pull through sites. Loop D has 43 sites and two restrooms close to the loop. It also has 9 pull through sites. Loop E has 30 sites and 10 pull through sites. It does have a restroom in the loop which it shares with Loop F, group sites being 5 sites. There are spots along the road being 20 spots and of these only 3 are pull through. There is an amphitheater in the campground and the NPS is offering weekend nights (Friday and Saturday) ranger talks. I was here on Sunday and Monday so no talk for me. The campground has no electric and the water is at the restrooms only. It does have a dump station but the station is not open when I was here so not sure when it will be open. The campground does have limitations on the size of vehicle/trailer you can have within the campground since the parking at the sites are small. An RV can only be 35 feet, and Dundee is only 25 so I made it no problem. There is also a trailer limit of 27 feet. The campground is at 3,180 feet above sea level.
