Mount Rainier National Park - Washington

**Ticketed Entry Requirements**  |  Mount Rainier National Park is located in the south-central area of the state of Washington. The area was established as a National Park on March 2, 1899, and it currently preserves more than 236,380 acres of land including all of Mount Rainier a stratovolcano standing 14,411 feet in elevation, making it the highest peak in the Cascade Range. Read more...

Besides the monolithic Mount Rainier, the national park is also home to more than 142 square miles of old-growth forests, hundreds of waterfalls, lakes rivers, and streams, and a variety of beautiful subalpine meadows and picturesque valleys that come alive with an abundance of colorful wildflowers each year in the summertime.

The park is also home to some 26 named glaciers! Mount Rainier is home to two of the largest glaciers in the contiguous US...Carbon Glacier, which is the largest glacier by volume, and Emmons Glacier which is the largest glacier by area.

Ninety-seven percent of the Mount Rainier National Park is designated as a wilderness area, which is defined as being a pristine, undisturbed, wild, and natural land that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines, or other industrial infrastructures.

Two of the park's most popular areas for visitors to congregate include Paradise and Longmire.

Paradise is located on the southern slopes of Mount Rainier at an elevation of around 5,400 feet above sea level. Paradise is the home of the Paradise Inn, the Paradise Jackson Visitor Center, and the historic Paradise Ranger Station. Paradise is also where you will find trailheads to most of the national park's most popular hiking trails including the Nisqually Vista Trail, Alta Vista Trail, and the more adventurous High Skyline Trail and Deadhorse Creek Trail.

Longmire is much lower in elevation (around 2,700 ft), and situated amidst old-growth forests next to the Nisqually River, in the southwest corner of the park. Longmire is the second most visited region of the park (coming in second to Paradise), and it is home to the National Park Inn. Longmire is also a great area to find a variety of trailheads leading into the park's beautiful backcountry. Some of the popular trails that start near Longmire include the Trail of the Shadows, The Rampart Ridge Trail, and the Wonderland Trail.