May 26-27, 2023
If you read travel articles about visiting Mt. Rainier National Park, or Google the question, “when is the best time to visit Mt. Rainier?”, the response will be July and August. The prime season boasts warm weather and clear skies. Eye candy will be subalpine meadows of wildfires and prime visibility of mountains without fog or clouds.
While I love all flowers, wild included, and we both have a weakness for mountain scenes, we weren’t disappointed with our visit during Memorial Day weekend. Several of the roads were still closed due to snowpack. So that holiday visitors would not be disappointed, the Mt. Rainier National Park Service staff opened more roads on a limited basis for the visitors. There were plenty of sites to see. Visual delights included waterfalls of all shapes and sizes.
Eye Candy Waterfalls
From trickling melting glaciers,
sneaking between rocks and trees,
plunging onto the road,
down into babbling streams,
and making way to roaring creeks and rivers,
we were enthralled.
Nature can be paradoxical. Mount Rainier is a volcano surrounded by glaciers, as seen on the map.
Our Visit
On Thursday afternoon, we arrived at our campsite in Dog Canyon Lake National Forest campground in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. From Highway 25 to Highway 123, the campground was about a 25-minute drive to the southeast entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park. The entrance road leads to Ohanapecosh Visitor Center and Campground and Stevens Canyon Road.
Our early evening pre-visit exploration revealed that the campground was closed. A sign indicated that Stevens Canyon Road would be open from Saturday until Tuesday, but the road to Sunrise Visitor Center and White Pass areas in the northern section of the park were open.
We will start our visit there on Friday.
The route from our campsite to the entrance is highlighted in magenta.
Friday route is highlighted in yellow.
Side note – at Sunrise Visitor Center on Friday, a ranger explained that Stevens Canyon Road has deteriorated from years of weather and use. It is under repair, but will be open for Memorial Day visitors on a limited and metered basis.
Friday
Our Campsite
Friday morning, as usual, Mike woke early to get sunrise pictures over the lake.
I woke early to pack our picnic lunch, grab my dad’s binoculars, our big camera, and warm coats. The younger fur children bounced into the van. Molly waited patiently for Mike to lift her since she is old, and we were off on another day adventure.
At the Highway 123 entrance to the park, we had our Senior Access Pass ready to show. The rangers chatted with us giving us a map, information, and waved us through. No fee.
Sometimes it pays to get old.
Another side note: Our access pass gets us through all the National Parks and National Monuments at no charge. National Forest Campgrounds and the Corp of Engineers Campgrounds are free or half price. Don’t wait until you are 62. For younger visitors there are Military Passes, Annual Passes, and passes for Fourth Grade children and their families.
Kids, tell your parents!
And on Federal Holidays, many of our national treasures are free for everyone even without an access pass. Check it out, our country is amazing.
Driving slowly down the road, not because we are old, rather because we stopped every few minutes to photograph the alluring random sites of melting snow waters falling over the rocks on the side of the road.
At first, we didn’t see mountains since majestic Douglas fir trees blocked the views.
Creeks we stopped to see:
But the best falls and creeks were the surprises coming off the rocks on the side of the road.
The drive through a tunnel led us higher into the mountains.
We came upon more creeks and rivers.
Deadwood Creek peeping through the trees.
Sunrise Campground
Sunrise Campground was still closed to camping for the season; fortunately, it was open for day use. At the Visitor Center, the rangers said we could wander around the campground all we wanted. They said the best views were from Loop D.
Mike and I sat on a log and ate our picnic lunch surrounded by nature.
The campground had a sweet little log cabin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open for visitors yet. That’s okay, I peeked into the windows.
Three young men were heading for a walk up the mountain.
Mike and I headed for a walk around the campground.
Views from Loop D:
Lake Tipsoo
We left Sunrise Campground and headed on to Mather Memorial Parkway. We came upon my favorite view in Mt. Rainier National Park – Lake Tipsoo.
Glacier waters are a blue green. Unfortunately, my photos don’t show the beautiful colors as we saw them.
Friday Evening – On the way back to our campsite – Lava Falls, Palisades Viewpoint, and Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier National Park wasn’t the only place in the area with interesting sites to see. For instance, on the way back to the campsite on Friday from Highway 12, had three spectacular sites.
First, we saw a huge waterfall tucked into the fir trees deep against the mountain.
Lava falls
It is so huge; we could see it from far away.
Here is a close-up photo of the falls. The photos don’t do justice to the enormity and power of these falls.
At the next scenic pull-out, we stopped for a view that is not seen just passing by in the car. The Palisades is a unique rock formation carved in the mountains.
The storyboard in the viewpoint explains. Nine miles away, sometime between 110,000 to 20,000 years ago, a volcano erupted. Dacite lava flowed to this point and stopped. Geologists do not know why it stopped. The lava made a large pool. The edge of the lava pool cooled faster than the rest and formed fractures in these columns. Years later, the Cowlitz River eroded away the softer material and exposed the columns.
Saturday
The next day, we woke up even earlier. No alarm clock needed. We were anxious to get into the park and arrived by 7:30 a.m. The rangers waved us through onto Stevens Canyon Road. Very few other cars were on the road. The map describes the route we took highlighted in yellow. I underlined in magenta the places we stopped at including the Palisades Viewpoint from the evening before.
Along Stevens Canyon Road
Stevens Canyon Road had areas of repairs in progress. Everyone had patience even going in and out of the tunnels and taking turns on the one-lane sections. Visitors were grateful that more of the park was open this holiday weekend.
The first stop Saturday morning was Falls Creek, then more falls and creeks along the way to our next big stop, Box Canyon.
Fall Creek
My mountain ‘old’ goat taking a picture of Nickel creek.
Mike taking a picture of Mary taking a picture of Mike taking a picture of Nickel Creek.
Box Canyon
From the parking lot, Box Canyon has a path that leads to the overlook bridge. When you get to the bridge and look up, you see the water falling into the canyon.
Falls flowing into Box Canyon.
Looking down into the canyon from the bridge overlook. A plaque on the bridge rail stated that it is 115 feet from the canyon to the surface of the water.
The paved path which runs along the side of the canyon is on a rocky, almost flat, terrain with water flowing down in little streams.
Reflection Lake
One of the main points of interest that we wanted to see was Mt. Rainer’s image in Reflection Lake. Unexpected to us, snow and ice covered the lakes, so there was no reflection of Mt. Rainier.
Nevertheless, the scene was beautiful.
Melting glacier ice on the lake.
By this time in the day, a lot of people were in the park. The rangers marked off a safe path for people to walk around the lake and clearly indicated what was dangerous.
Did people heed those warnings? NO! The poor rangers were continually herding people back onto the safe trail. Just because you have on skis, doesn’t mean you won’t fall through the ice!
Paradise Park
Paradise Park and the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center have a lot to offer. A little after noontime on Saturday, this area was crowded! On site is Paradise Inn, a restaurant, the ranger station, a gift shop, the trail to Panorama Point, and more. The Visitor Center includes historical exhibits, observation deck, and a theater showing a documentary on Mt. Rainier
Picturesque peaks along the way to Narada Falls.
Narada Falls
The Paradise River plunges down 168 feet over the edge of hard andesite lava that sits against much older rock. The lava cooled quickly when it contacted the icy surface of the glacier that once filled the valley.
Rivers and creeks meandering through rocky beds were Mike’s favorite scenes in Mt. Rainier.
The Historic Village of Longmire – the Gateway to Mt. Rainier.
Our last stop was Longmire. James Longmire opened a resort in 1880 after discovering the mineral springs in the area and uncovered the healing benefits they provided.
When Mt. Rainier became a national park in 1899, more visitors came and they needed services and activities. A gas station and auto shop, lodging, clubhouse, and tennis courts accommodated those needs. The village was designed to blend in with the natural setting.
The Lodge
The gas station
The ranger station
The museum
If you are wondering what these people are doing in front of the museum, they are stamping their National Parks Passport. I stamped ours! You can purchase a National Parks Passport at any NPS Visitor Center and stamp along the way as you visit each park. They even have a Junior Ranger Program with its own passport book and activities. Kids, remind your parents to get you one!!!!
Trail of the Shadows
Longmire is an edge environment, that is where meadow and forest meet. Usually, plants and animals in each of these environments are different. However, in an edge environment, both thrive resulting in a wider diversity of plants and animals. The Trail of the Shadows at Longmire winds visitors through this edge environment.
This was my favorite activity in Mt. Rainier.
Fallen trees provide support for other plants and trees.
I was happy to wind through the trail,
Mike, tired and grumpy, wasn’t so thrilled until…..
A pair of goslings chose him.
The story goes like this…..We sat on a tree log bench for a break. Along came a family from Germany – mom, dad, and tiny girl with golden curls. We were headed in the direction they came from.
Trailing along with the family, were two little goslings, but they weren’t the family pets.
The parents explained. At the beginning of the trail, the little geese decided to follow the dad. The Little Miss Golden Curls was happy to have them join the trek, chattering to the little geese in her home language. Mom and dad did not know what to do.
Mike started to talk to the goslings, so they decided that next to Mike was a good place to nap.
Mike told the family to sneak away, and we would try to bring the little fowls back to the point where they started following the family.
The babies happily followed Mike down the trail chirping as they went. Mike made the comment that they were more obedient than our fur children. I think he was about to make a trade.
Marshy pond where he enticed the babies to stay. They were busy nibbling while he sneaked away.
We did report the two little goslings (hopefully not orphans) to the rangers in the museum.
We ended our time in the Trail of the Shadows looking at this last remaining cabin built at Longmire.
Enticing us to visit again.
Even though we did not visit in the prime season, Mt. Rainier gave us glimpses of what we will see when we visit again another year in July or August.
On our next trip to Mt. Rainier, we want to see Mt. Rainier’s reflection in Reflection Lake, a clear view of Mt. Rainier at Paramount Point, vast fields of wildflowers in the Grove of the Patriarchs, and Silver Falls.
As we head down our planned trails, we get diverted. Nevertheless, we encounter wonderful surprises. And hope that someday, you will see all this and more for yourselves.