My Tour to Mount Rainier:

Sham S. Misri

(From Seattle, Washington)

Saturday: 14th August, 2010

Having lived in Seattle for some time, I have been very frequently seeing a mountain whenever I would go to a mall to have some grocery. It was snow capped. I enquired from my son Sandeep, about the name of the mountain. He was quick to inform that it is the famous mountain called Mount Rainier; the people of Seattle-Tacoma area are the frequent visitors; and on days of exceptional clarity, this mountain can also be seen from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Victoria, British Columbia.

I said, “WOW!”

It was Friday evening. Sandeep immediately proposed, “Dad, Let us go to ‘Mount Rainier tomorrow.’

I immediately agreed upon this, and the next two days being holidays, we travelled towards the Mount Rainier on Saturday morning.

I was accompanied by my wife Sarla, my son Sandeep, his wife Suprigya, and my grand children, Parum and Neel.

 Mount Rainier:

While going to Mount Rainier we had to change the car route because of the deadly accident on the road. Mount Rainier is located about 95 miles from Seattle and 70 miles from Tacoma. It is a large active volcano consisting of layers of lava alternating with ash or cinder. It lies southeast of Seattle. It is the most prominent and the highest mountain in Washington, being 14,411 feet high. The mountain and the surrounding area are protected within Mount Rainier National Park. There are miles of permanent snowfields and glaciers. Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak. The peak is topped by two volcanic craters, each over 1,000 feet in diameter. The heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice. There are nearly 25 major glaciers on Mount Rainier and many ice patches. The biggest Glacier has an area of nearly 4.3 square miles. Mount Rainier’s glaciers are important indicators of climatic change.

The first white man to see the mountain was Captain George Vancouver. In 1792 he named the mountain in honor of his friend Admiral Peter Rainier. Captain Vancouver had mentioned of a "high, round mountain covered with snow." 
Naturalist John Muir climbed the summit on his visit. He advanced the idea of a national park for Mt. Rainier. The first photograph taken at the summit of Mount Rainier was in August, 1888, by naturalist John Muir, and P. B. Van Trump. They were, the first two men known to have reached Rainier's summit.
 In July, 1917, a beautiful park hotel, the Paradise Inn, located in Mount Rainier's gorgeous Paradise Valley was opened. It is the one of the Pacific Northwest's first high-elevation mountain resorts. It is also among America's first ski resorts. From 1942 to 1943 the U.S. Army used the inn to house troops training for winter mountain conditions.

Mount Rainier National Park

The Mount Rainier National Park is located in the west-central portion of Washington State and is about 2-3 hours from Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. Some 3.3 million people live within 3 hour drive of the park, and about half of the park's annual visitors are from the state of Washington. Over 2 million people visit the park each year. Among the prominent people who have visited the park are three presidents--Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Harry S. Truman.

If someone were to try and design the most beautiful park, with the most incredible wild flowers, they couldn't even come close to the beauty of this place. There are no words to describe it. There are Easy walking trails, simple hikes, and there are also more difficult hikes. The only drawback is it is very busy...

Mount Rainier National Park is one of three national parks in the state of Washington and is one of America's oldest parks. The park was created to preserve one of America's most amazing scenic wonders. The snow-capped volcano was known to people in ages past and as Mt. Rainier now. While the mountain is in the centre of the park, its 378 square miles also contain mountain ranges, glaciers, rivers, trails, deep forests, and lush meadows covered with wildflowers during the summer. 96% of the park is classified as wilderness.

Coming back to our cosy cabin a bench and a table was very relaxing. The very tall pine trees and the grill arrangements were very pleasant.  We had our lunch at the bench and a table which gave the feeling of a cabin by running water tap nearby. Parum and Neel were busy in collecting the forest cones and some dry wood and continued playing their fun games.

A walk along the Trail:        

Having parked the vehicle in the parking lot, we first went along the trail. We hiked along the trail and wandered through forest. Walking nearly a mile in the forest, along the trail, I was observing the aloneness of the forest. My wife was also with me. Though not professional hikers, we enjoyed the coolness of virgin forest and the sound of cascading water at several points all along this route. After crossing the first two bends, the trail followed an abandoned road where I along with Sarla, my wife stopped. We sat on a big bolder in the shade of a tree. Sandeep my son and his wife Suprigya proceeded ahead along the trail. I had my grand children also with me. We waited there till Sandeep and Suprigya would return.  During this period we saw many visitors coming up and down the trail. We enjoyed the nature. Mount Rainier has a terrific view. The river valleys, Mountain goats, the glaciers, distant mountain peaks, and acres of wildflowers are fantastic. The mountain goats were seen nibbling nearby across the face of Mount Rainier. Lines of climber ants were seen descending from their hopefully successful summit attempts late in the evening. After two hours of halt there, my son and his wife returned back. We all then continued our walk along the trail to reach the spot where we had parked the vehicle. Spending some time there, we boarded our vehicle and tried to reach our next destination point The Paradise valley. We entered into Paradise Valley along the Valley Road. The road loops in a U shape around the valley, with views of the Mountain Range along the way.

Paradise Valley:

The drive from the entrance of the park to Paradise is fantastic. While it is about 20 miles, it took us over an hour because we stopped at some points to explore the viewpoints, trails and river water falls. The view of the summit is awesome. Great jump off point to do more hiking etc. Paradise Valley is visible from several places .Since, we had already walked along the trail, and not knowing how the first sight of the paradise valley may look we moved on and on. As we were tired, we thought of having a casual look at there. But as we reached the spot, the view, the first look and the scene of Paradise valley was... Breath taking. The weather was pleasant...

In the heart of hearts we were thinking why we did not visit the Paradise Valley first and then had the trail walk. The dying Mogul Emperor Jahangir, when asked if he desired anything, closed his eyes as if to dream of the fair land he loved, as he made answer, “Only Kashmir”. Kashmir is called the Paradise on earth. Had the Emperor visited the Paradise valley, what would have the king desired for!

However, views opened up into the valley, and there were open meadows to play around in the new tracks. Paradise is famous for its glorious views and wildflower meadows. Paradise is a prime winter area in the park. It receives an average 53.4 feet of snow a year. Winter activities include walking on deep snow with a flat frame fitted onto the bottom of the shoe, and cross-country skiing.

For many years, the Paradise Ice Caves were a popular attraction at Mount Rainier.  Due to melting of the ice and climate change the last traces of the ice caves are no more. The valley was named Paradise in 1885 when wildflowers in the alpine meadows were viewed there. Wildflowers at Paradise were amazing and the views of Mt Rainier incredible.  Paradise Valley is located on the sub-alpine slopes of Mount Rainier. It has been a popular hiking, climbing, and camping destination since at least the late 1800s.

The evidence of human habitation in the park area is as back as 3500-6000 years ago. Archaeological evidence dating back 2000 years indicates cave shelters, camps, and some stone tools. Some tribes used the park area on a seasonal basis. These people hunted mountain goats and small animals that hibernated. They gathered food such as roots, berries, and herbs on the mountain, but rarely ventured above the snowline. These Native Americans regarded the mountain with spiritual powers.

"Paradise is the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured regularly." Nearly 93.5 feet of snow fall during the winter of 1971-1972, set a world record at the time. 
Paradise is the most popular destination for visitors to Mount Rainier National Park. Millions of people visit the park and the Paradise.

We were among the Day trippers from Seattle to Mount Rainer. Like that people from Seattle and Tacoma, very frequently visit the spot! While at the paradise valley Suprigya and Sandeep climbed up to the snow line, I along with my wife Sarla and two grandchildren stayed half way. We sat on a big log of wood watching tourists going up and going down the hillock. Lots of mosquitoes were enroute. We were not equipped with anything that could keep mosquitoes off. No repellant with us. Parum and Neel getting more of the bites, perhaps the mosquitoes liked to bite the babies and infants more. Seeing the condition, one English lady stopped and was kind enough to take a tube out of her purse and offered us to be applied. I quickly applied the mosquito repellant to Parum and Neel. Half halfheartedly I applied some portion to myself and handed over some paste to Sarla. Some fine minutes were consumed in the application of the cream.  There was gossip and fun. We talked and talked, some serious and some non serious. Sarla then said,”let us not laugh too much and be serious.” My reply to her was ‘serious things cannot be understood without humor.’ At this   Sarla was annoyed and said not to make children cry as their parents were up the ascent of the hill. Neel had made up his mind to go up the hill all alone, he was now becoming cranky. Soon Suprigya and Sandeep were seen descending the hill after touching the snow line. We had some quick snacks and proceeded towards our residence. The trip will be remembered for long days to come.