Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park   Mount Rainier 2  

MOUNT RAINIER

AMERICA'S highest and grandest volcano would IJL hardly be taken for one on first sight. Yet such was the origin of Mount Rainier to the southeast of Puget Sound in the state of Washington, Long after a great reef of sandstone and shale rocks had heen thrust up to form the Cascade Range, lava began to flow through fissures in the earth and in some places erupt and form mighty cones. It is around such volcanic action that four of our parks along the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains Yellowstone, Rainier, Crater, and Lassen came into being. Mount Rainier began with huge flows of a dark lava that still makes up its base. Then ashes and cinders were hurled out, more lava, and finally the cone tapered off in volcanic ash. The summit has been softened and rounded slightly, for it seems to be made up of two craters, one about a mile square, with a smaller one within. While a few small steam vents may still be found in the basin of the crater, a last bit of evidence that this is a volcano fast asleep, the enormous pile of earth, standing nearly two miles above its surroundings, is shrouded in snow and ice well down its flanks the year round.

At one time in the not too distant past, glaciers covered not only the mountain but much of the area down into Puget Sound. These heavily sculptured the mountain, leaving cirques, or large, rounded, steepsided heads of valleys, and broad-floored, steep-walled canyons. No less than 26 active glaciers are still at work, wearing down Rainier. They grow slowly smaller, and are but remnants of what they once were, yet they run from 50 to 500 feet thick, and continue to cover more than 40 square miles of the mountainside. Nearly half of them are major exhibits, and some run from 4 to 6 miles, and their beauty rivals many found in the Alps.

Largest of the group is the Emmons Glacier, which is also the largest in the United States, flowing down from the summit to the northeast. It and the Nisqually on the south are most easily reached, and so the best known. The body of the latter near the center of its ice mass is moving just under a foot a day, or about 25 feet a month. At the present time the glaciers are melting slightly faster than the ice forms. Thus they are growing shorter. It has been figured that Emmons and Nisqually have each lost an average of 75 feet yearly during the last 20 years.

With its heavy cap of ice, the mountain Is a breathtaking sight on clear days, when it can be seen for distances up to 150 miles. Consequently it was no secret to early explorers and settlers, yet it was not successfully climbed until 1870. But its great unique beauty was long fully appreciated, and in 1899 some 377 square miles with the mountain at its center were set aside as Mount Rainier National Park. And its setting is very much in keeping with the mountain itself.

The lower slopes of the mountain are covered by lush forests, including some trees of very unusual size. This forest cover reaches to about 7000 feet, above which are extensive flower gardens, their blooms thriving close beside the ice rivers. Indeed the park is famous for the very great beauty of its floral display. It is claimed that probably no area excels that of the park in abundance of bloom, or in the kinds of flowers represented. This display spreads through the various sections from May to September, The velvet-green beauty of the lowland forest is due to the abundance of rainfall, which amounts to about 9 feet a year. Much of this falls as snow, and during the colder months the views of the mountain are often shut off by storm clouds and fog. Warm, clear weather may be expected in the park from early July well into September, with a touch of Indian summer in October.

There are some 80 miles of pavement within the park that permit driving to many fine scenic points. In addition there are some 282 miles of trails to take hikers and horseback riders into all parts of the preserve, and even to the summit of Rainier. This latter is a difficult climb over ice fields, glaciers, and long patches of treacherous lava and pumice. Those who attempt it are required to give evidence of ability and of suitable physical stamina. It takes the practiced mountaineer a full day and much of the night to make the round trip to the top. That is if a blizzard is not encountered. The climbing season is only from June to early October.