Hey friends, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido, and we are now in
central Washington State because we're here to see Mount Rainier National Park. So come along!
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We're boondocking on the east side of White Pass near Rimrock Lake,
whereas Mt. Rainier is on the west side of White Pass.
We'll share our campsite and its surrounding lakes
later on in this episode after we first bring you to Mt. Rainier National Park,
and we'll be returning to share more of the park after showcasing our campsite.
If you're approaching Mt. Rainier from the east, chances are you'll cross White Pass,
and there's a point of interest near the top of the pass that you shouldn't miss.
Clear Creek Falls plunge a sheer 228 feet
in to an impressive, gaping, craggy canyon right beside US Highway 12,
with the volcanic remains of Spiral Butte looming behind.
Also atop the pass is White Pass Ski Area,
where twin brothers Phil & Steve Mahre learned to ski on their way to racing on the World Cup
and three Olympic medals between them. Their father Spike was the White Pass Mountain Manager.
Not long after cresting the pass, visitors
are treated to their first oh-my-God view of the Mt. Rainier massif.
Most visitors approaching from the east will access
Mt. Rainier National Park via Stevens Canyon.
However, this summer that road is closed Mondays through Thursdays to accommodate road repairs
from flood damage that occurred in 2021.
When the road is closed, the official route to the park's Paradise area is via a long 95-mile detour.
However, you can shave 40 miles off the trip by following Forest Road
52 from Packwood to the park's Nisqually Entrance.
Park Rangers did their best to dissuade us from taking the shortcut,
but although the road is winding and narrow, it is paved the entire way,
and plenty of other folks appeared to be taking the shortcut as well.
Mount Rainier National Park was established in
1899 as the fourth national park in the United States.
It encompasses over 369 square miles surrounding Mount Rainier,
a 14,410-foot stratovolcano with over 13,000 feet of prominence
above the surrounding countryside in central Washington State.
Paradise is the most popular destination for the
1.3 million visitors to Mount Rainier National Park annually.
It's located at an elevation of 5,400 feet on Mount Rainier
and accessed most directly via the park's Nisqually Entrance.
The lower elevations of this side of the mountain are heavily forested,
and most views of the mountain don't open up until nearing the timber line.
Paradise is the location of the historic Paradise Inn built in 1916,
Paradise Guide House built in 1920, and the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center.
It's also the start of the route most climbers take to the summit.
Some 10,000 climbers attempt to summit each year, with only around 50% succeeding.
The National Park Service says that "Paradise is
the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured regularly."
Over ninety-three feet of snow fell during the winter of 1971–1972,
setting a world record at the time.
From 1942 to 1943 the U.S. Army used Paradise Inn
to house troops training for winter mountain conditions.
The Paradise area offers supreme viewing of the many of the mountain's 35 square
miles of glaciers, including the massive Nisqually Glacier.
Mount Rainier's glaciers spawn rivers flowing in every direction.
Some, like the Nisqually River, have carved deep, wide canyons into the mountain's flanks.
Others, like the Paradise River, tumble down the mountainside in no less spectacular ways.
We're camped along with the YouTube channel Homie at Large just east of White
Pass in the Rimrock Lake Recreation Area of Wenatchee National Forest.
Most of the lakeshore is heavily wooded and without many boondocking opportunities,
so we've picked a more open spot about a half mile back from the lake.
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A small stream runs right behind our RV,
and we're being treated each night to the lullaby of its bubbling water.
In case you're ever wondering if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to see
it does it make a sound, I can verify it does! I was sitting there working today
and I heard a massive tree come crashing down back here somewhere,
lord knows where. This forest is so dense I'd probably never be able to see it.
But holy cow, the whole ground shook! The trees around here, they grow awfully big.
Many of the Forest Roads around here that appear on our maps are extremely narrow and overgrown.
They do, however, make for an excellent area to hike with Zoe right from our camp.
Just down the road from our camp, beautiful Rimrock Lake is used as a storage reservoir
for the Yakima Project, an irrigation project run by the United States Bureau of Reclamation.
Upstream from the lake, the river is impounded by Clear Creek Dam,
another element of the Yakima Project that's just down the road from our campsite.
It's now Saturday, and Mt. Rainier National Park's Stevens Canyon Road is now open for travel!
We'll get a chance today to see what we missed earlier in the week.
This is the stretch of road under repair,
and from this perspective it's easy to see how that flood damage occurred.
We also tried to visit the Sunrise Area of the park via the White River Ranger Station,
the third primary park entrance.
However, with it getting late in the afternoon, and with a mile-long lineup to enter,
we have to pass on the opportunity.
So instead we're paying a quick visit to Crystal Mountain, the largest ski area
in Washington State, located in the valley of Silver Creek, a tributary of the White River.
Summer visitors can ride Crystal's Mt. Rainier Gondola.
Installed in 2010, this only high-speed gondola in
Washington offers unobstructed views from its summit of Mt. Rainier, 13 miles away.
Overnight RV camping is also permitted in one of Crystal Mountain's parking lots.
So we truly hope that you've enjoyed visiting Mount Rainier National Park
and the Rimrock Lake Recreation Area with us!
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