Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce
County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2,
1899 as the fifth national park in the United States, preserving 236,381 acres (369.3 sq
mi; 956.6 km2) including all of Mount Rainier, a 14,411-foot (4,392 m) stratovolcano. The
mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from
1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet (490 - 4,300 m). The highest point in the Cascade Range,
Mount Rainier is surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and 91,000 acres (142.2
sq mi; 368.3 km2) of old-growth forest. More than 25 glaciers descend the flanks of the
volcano, which is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow.
Mount Rainier is circled by the Wonderland Trail and is covered by glaciers and snowfields
totaling about 35 square miles (91 km2). Carbon Glacier is the largest glacier by volume in
the contiguous United States, while Emmons Glacier is the largest glacier by area. Mount
Rainier is a popular peak for mountaineering with some 10,000 attempts per year with approximately
50% making it to the summit.
== History ==
Ninety-seven percent of the park is preserved as wilderness under the National Wilderness
Preservation System, including Clearwater Wilderness and Mount Rainier Wilderness, a
designation it received in 1988. It is abutted by the Tatoosh Wilderness. The park was designated
a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1997 as a showcase for the National Park Service
Rustic style architecture (or parkitecture) of the 1920s and 1930s, exemplified by the
Paradise Inn and a masterpiece of early NPS master planning. As an Historic Landmark district,
the park was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The film
Track of the Cat (1954) was filmed in and around Mount Rainer National Park.
=== Native Americans === The earliest evidence of human activity in
the area which is now Mount Rainier National Park, a projectile point dated to circa 4,000-5,800
BP (before present) found along Bench Lake Trail (the first section of Snow Lake Trail).A
more substantial archeological find was a rock shelter near Fryingpan Creek, east of
Goat Island Mountain. Hunting artifacts were found in the shelter. The shelter would not
have been used all year round. Cultural affinities suggest the site was used by Columbia Plateau
Tribes from 1000 to 300 BP.In 1963 the National Park Service contracted the Washington State
University to study Native American use of the Mount Rainier area. Richard D. Daugherty
lead an archeological study of the area and concluded that prehistoric humans used the
area most heavily between 8000 and 4500 BP. Allan H. Smith interviewed elderly Native
Americans and studied ethnographic literature. He found no evidence of permanent habitation
in the park area. The park was used for hunting and gathering and for occasional spirit quests.
Smith also came to tentative conclusions that the park was divided among five tribes along
watershed boundaries; the Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Yakama, and Taidnapam (Upper
Cowlitz). Subsequent studies cast doubt on Smith's theory that the tribes had agreed
upon boundaries before they entered into treaties with the United States in 1854-55.
=== Fauna === Mammals that inhabit this national park are
especially the cougar, black bear, raccoon, coyote, bobcat, snowshoe hare, weasel, mole,
beaver, red fox, porcupine, skunk, marmot, deer, marten, shrew, pika, elk, and mountain
goat. The common birds of this park including raptors are the thrush, chickadee, kinglet,
northern goshawk, willow flycatcher, spotted owl, steller's jay, Clark's nutcracker, bald
eagle, ptarmigan, harlequin duck, grouse, peregrine falcon, gray jay, golden eagle,
grosbeak and finch.
=== Park creation ===
On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley signed a bill passed by Congress authorizing
the creation of Mount Rainier National Park, the nation's fifth national park. It was the
first national park created from a national forest. The Pacific Forest Reserve had been
created in 1893 and included Mount Rainier. It was enlarged in 1897 and renamed Mount
Rainier Forest Reserve. John Muir had visited Mount Rainier in 1888. Muir and nine others,
including Edward Sturgis Ingraham, Charles Piper, and P. B. Van Trump, climbed to the
summit in what became the fifth recorded ascent.The trip to Mount Rainier had played a role in
reinvigorating Muir and convincing him to rededicate his life to the preservation of
nature as national parks. At the time national forests, called forest reserves at first,
were being created throughout the American West, under the utilitarian "conservation-through-use"
view of Gifford Pinchot. Muir came to be known as a "preservationist". He wanted nature preserved
under the more protected status of national parks. But during the 1890s there was more
public support for creating national forests than national parks. During that decade, Muir
and his supporters were only able to protect one national forest as a national park. When
the Pacific Forest Reserve was created in 1893, Muir quickly persuaded the newly formed
Sierra Club to support a movement to protect Rainier as a national park. Other groups soon
joined, such as the National Geographic Society and scientific associations wanting Mount
Rainier preserved as a place to study volcanism and glaciology. Commercial leaders in Tacoma
and Seattle were also in support, as was the Northern Pacific Railway. The effort lasted
over five years and involved six different attempts to push a bill through Congress.
Congress eventually agreed, but only after acquiring assurances that none of the new
park was suitable for farming or mining and that no federal appropriations would be necessary
for its management.
=== 2006 flooding === Mount Rainier National Park closed because
of extensive flooding as a result of the 6 November 2006 Pineapple Express rainstorm
when 18 inches (460 mm) of rain fell in a 36-hour period. Campsites and roads throughout
the park were washed away. Power to Paradise and Longmire was disrupted. Sunshine Point
Campground, shortly inside the Nisqually Entrance, was destroyed and has not reopened. On 5 May
2007, the park reopened to automobile traffic via State Route 706 at the Nisqually Entrance.
== Major attractions ==
The entire park was designated a National Historic Landmark District on February 18,
1997, in recognition of the consistently high standard of design and preservation the park's
National Park Service Rustic-style architecture. The park contains 42 locations designated
on the National Register of Historic Places, including four National Historic Landmarks.
=== Paradise ===
Paradise (46.79°N 121.74°W﻿ / 46.79; -121.74﻿ (Paradise)) is the name of an area at approximately
5,400 feet (1,600 m) on the south slope of Mount Rainier in the national park. Paradise
is the most popular destination for visitors to Mount Rainier National Park. 62% of the
over 1.3 million people who visited the park in 2000 went to Paradise. Paradise, near the
subalpine valley of the Paradise River, is the location of the historic Paradise Inn
(built 1916), Paradise Guide House (built 1920) and Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center
(built 1966; demolished and replaced, 2008).
==== Climate ==== The National Park Service says that "Paradise
is the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured regularly." 1,122 inches (28.5
m) of snow fell during the winter of 1971/72, setting a world record for that year. Subsequently,
in the winter of 1998/99, Mount Baker Ski Area received 1,140 inches (29 m). Paradise
holds the Cascade Range record for most snow on the ground with 367 inches (9.32 m) on
10 March 1956.Under the Köppen climate classification, the park has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with
a drying trend in the summer.
=== Longmire ===
Longmire (46.75°N 121.81°W﻿ / 46.75; -121.81﻿ (Longmire Visitors Centre)) is a visitor center
in Mount Rainier National Park, located 6.5 miles (10.5 km) east of the Nisqually Entrance.
The area is named after James Longmire, an early settler in Puget Sound. The area is
in the Nisqually River valley at an elevation of 2,761 feet (842 m) between The Ramparts
Ridge and the Tatoosh Range. Longmire is surrounded by old-growth Douglas fir, western red cedar
and western hemlock. Longmire is the location of Mount Rainier's
National Park Inn, the Longmire Museum, and the 1928 National Park Service Administration
Building, which is now a Wilderness Information Center. The National Park Inn is the only
accommodation in the park open all year round.Longmire is the second most popular destination for
visitors to Mount Rainier National Park after Paradise. Of the more than 1.3 million people
who visited the park in 2000, 38% visited Longmire. The Cougar Rock Campground is about
2 miles (3.2 km) north west of Longmire with 173 individual campsites and 5 group sites
and open from late May through late September. Longmire is one of the starting points of
the Wonderland Trail.
=== Sunrise ===
Sunrise (46.91°N 121.64°W﻿ / 46.91; -121.64﻿ (Sunrise Visitors Centre)) is a lodge and
visitor center located in the northeastern part of the park. At an elevation of 6,400
feet (1,950 m), it is the highest point in the park that is accessible by vehicle. There
are miles of trails located all around Sunrise, such as Mount Fremont, Burroughs Mountain,
and Sourdough Ridge. The lodge is reachable via a 10-mile (16 km) turnoff from SR 410
near the White River entrance.
=== Other developed areas ===
Ohanapecosh is a campground (with 188 individual sites and 2 group sites, open from late May
through late September), visitor center (closed during the 2013 season), and ranger station
located in the southeastern portion of the park, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) from
the park boundary off Highway 123. Located in a deep valley among old growth forest at
an elevation below 2,000 feet (610 m), it is the only developed area of the park without
a view of Mount Rainier. The Ohanapecosh Hot Springs, Grove of the Patriarchs, and Silver
Falls are all located in the Ohanapecosh area. The Carbon River Entrance Station is located
in the northwest corner of the park off Highway 165 and is the site of the only rainforest
at Mount Rainier. There is a campground and a short trail through the rainforest, as well
as a trail to the Carbon Glacier, one of the lowest glaciers in the contiguous United States.
Mowich Lake is the largest and deepest lake in the park, located south of Carbon at the
south end of Highway 165. A campground, picnic area, and hiking trail are located near the
lake. The two major roads into the northwest quadrant
of the Park were severely damaged by the floods of 2006. The ranger station at the Carbon
River entrance is staffed during the summer. No motor vehicles are permitted beyond that
point.
== See also == Washington portal
Bibliography of Mount Rainier National Park Amphibians and reptiles of Mount Rainier National
Park List of national parks of the United States