The United States National Park system is one of the best organizations of beautiful natural park settings in the world. Mount Rainier National Park located in the state of Washington is the fifth oldest National Park in the country and is the only one with an episodically active volcano.
Mount Rainier’s current summit is 14,411 feet above sea level making it the highest volcano in the Cascade Range. This Washington park is 378 square miles and is visited by over 2 million people a year usually between May and October when the weather is a bit milder and more roads in the park are accessible.
The volcano is snow covered on most of its surface area year round. In fact, over 35 square miles of Mount Rainier is covered in snow all the time. This area of the northwest is one of the snowiest places on earth and at any one time there can be more than 12 feet of snow on the ground. During the summer months the Paradise Inn Lodge is available with 121 guest rooms. The Paradise is a rustic old time grand lodge built back in 1916 and is one of the highlights of visiting the park.
Stay tuned for tomorrow when I’ll write about some of the beautiful scenery you can experience at Mt Rainier during the spring and summer. You don’t want to miss this part of one of our truly unique National Parks.
Tags: Mt Rainier