60 Fun Facts About Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier is the highest peak of which mountain range?

The Cascades: Mount Rainier is the highest summit of the Cascade Range, which runs from British Columbia to northern California and also includes Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood.

By what other name, from Indigenous languages, is Mount Rainier widely known?

Tahoma: the Coast Salish (Lushootseed) name for the mountain survives in park place names such as Tahoma Glacier and Little Tahoma Peak, the satellite summit on Rainier's east flank.

Mount Rainier National Park lies in which U.S. state?

Washington: the park sits about 59 miles south-southeast of Seattle, and Rainier's summit is the highest point in Washington state.

In what year was Mount Rainier National Park established?

1899: the act establishing Mount Rainier National Park became law on March 2, 1899, after a campaign backed by the Sierra Club and the National Geographic Society.

Which president signed the bill that created Mount Rainier National Park?

William McKinley signed the act creating the park; Theodore Roosevelt, the president most associated with conservation, did not take office until September 1901, after McKinley was assassinated.

Mount Rainier is what kind of volcano?

Stratovolcano: Rainier's steep, layered cone is built mostly of andesite lava flows and debris, and the present cone is more than 500,000 years old.

What summit elevation do the National Park Service and USGS officially cite for Mount Rainier?

14,410 ft (4,392 m) is the official figure, though a 2024 survey found the Columbia Crest ice cap had melted so much that a rock point on the southwest crater rim stood higher.

Which marmot species whistles its alarm call from Mount Rainier's subalpine meadows?

Hoary marmot: the largest North American ground squirrel, named for the silver-grey fur on its shoulders, lives on the park's rock slopes and meadows and whistles sharply when alarmed.

Which explorer named Mount Rainier after his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier?

George Vancouver, surveying Puget Sound for the Royal Navy, named the peak on May 8, 1792, for his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, on the same voyage on which he named Mount St. Helens and Puget Sound.

The map from the Lewis and Clark expedition labels the mountain with which name?

Mt. Regniere: the expedition's map rendered the peak's name with this French-looking spelling, a drift from the Royal Navy name given in 1792.

What year did the U.S. Board on Geographic Names rule the mountain would be called Rainier?

1890: the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, created that same year, ruled for 'Rainier', reaffirmed the choice in 1917, and Congress was weighing a rename resolution as late as 1924.

Which glacier on Mount Rainier is the largest by volume in the contiguous United States?

Carbon Glacier holds about 0.2 cubic miles of ice, is some 700 feet thick, and reaches down to about 3,500 feet, the lowest glacier terminus in the contiguous United States.

Which Rainier glacier is the largest by surface area in the contiguous United States?

Emmons Glacier covers about 4.3 square miles on the northeast flank above the White River and carries the second most popular summit route, via Camp Schurman.

Which trail makes a complete loop around Mount Rainier?

The Wonderland Trail circles the mountain through forest and subalpine meadows, crossing every major river valley that drains the volcano; most hikers take about 10 days to finish it.

Roughly how long is the trail that circles Mount Rainier?

93 miles: the loop trail climbs and drops constantly over the mountain's ridges, for a cumulative elevation gain of roughly 22,000 feet, and crosses every major glacial river draining the peak.

In what year was the loop trail around Mount Rainier built?

1915: the loop trail was completed that year, mainly as a patrol route for rangers, and was designated a National Recreation Trail in 1981.

What is the highest point on the loop trail that circles Mount Rainier?

Panhandle Gap, at about 6,750 feet on the mountain's southeast side between Summerland and Indian Bar, is the loop's highest point and often holds snow into July.

Roughly what share of the climbers who attempt Mount Rainier's summit each year actually reach it?

About 50%: of the roughly 10,000 people who attempt the summit each year, about half succeed; weather and fitness are the most common reasons for turning back.

Which area does the National Park Service call 'the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured'?

Paradise, at about 5,400 feet on the mountain's south slope, averages roughly 640 inches of snow a year, and its meadows often keep snow into July.

How much snow fell at the park's snowiest station in the record 1971-72 season?

93.5 feet, or 1,122 inches, fell in the 1971-72 season, a world record for a single measured season that stood until the winter of 1998-99.

Which ski area broke the park's seasonal snowfall record in the 1998-99 winter?

Mount Baker Ski Area, east of Bellingham, measured 1,140 inches (95 feet) of snow in the 1998-99 season, taking the single-season world record that the park's snow station had held since 1972.

In what year was the park's grand timber hotel at 5,400 feet on Rainier's south slope built?

1916: the inn was built that summer by the Rainier National Park Company and opened on July 1, 1917; it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The south-slope inn's Alaska cedar timbers came from trees killed by what in 1885?

A forest fire: the inn was framed with Alaska cedar salvaged from a stand that burned in 1885 below the inn site, logs that had weathered for three decades to a silver sheen.

Which architect designed the park's famous 1916 timber inn on the south slope of the mountain?

It was originally planned for Longmire; the site moved up the mountain after the original financier backed out.

Descending from the summit in 1883, James Longmire discovered what at the site that now bears his name?

A mineral spring: looking for his strayed horse, Longmire found warm, carbonated mineral springs in the meadow, filed a mineral claim and opened a small resort and bathhouse there.

Which lodging is the only one at Mount Rainier open all year round?

National Park Inn at Longmire, 6.5 miles inside the Nisqually Entrance, keeps its 25 rooms open through winter, when the higher inn on the south slope is closed.

Which developed area is the highest point in the park you can reach by vehicle?

Sunrise, at about 6,400 feet on the mountain's northeast side, is the highest point in the park reached by road, and trails to Mount Fremont, Burroughs Mountain and Sourdough Ridge fan out from it.

Which is the only developed area in the park without a view of Mount Rainier?

Ohanapecosh, in the park's southeast corner, sits in a deep river valley below any view of the peak; it compensates with hot springs, Silver Falls and the Grove of the Patriarchs.

The park's only rainforest is found near which entrance?

Carbon River: the park's northwest corner is wet enough to support an inland temperate rainforest of moss-draped cedar and hemlock; the road beyond the entrance washed out in the 2006 floods and was closed to cars.

What is the largest and deepest lake in Mount Rainier National Park?

Mowich Lake, in the park's northwest corner at about 4,900 feet, is the park's largest and deepest lake and a common starting point for the loop trail and the high route through Spray Park.

The park has a 'sister mountain' relationship with a Japanese park around which peak?

Mount Fuji: Japanese immigrants around Puget Sound had long nicknamed Rainier after Fuji for its resemblance to the volcano back home, and the two peaks were later formally paired as sister mountains.

Kenneth Arnold's 1947 report of nine strange objects over Mount Rainier gave the language which term?

Flying saucers: Arnold, a private pilot, said the nine objects moved 'like a saucer skipped across water', and newspapers coined 'flying saucer' within days, weeks before the Roswell incident.

The 2007 state quarter that shows Mount Rainier pairs it with which animal?

A salmon: the 2007 state quarter shows a king (chinook) salmon leaping in front of the mountain; Rainier had earlier appeared on the 3-cent stamp of the 1934 National Parks series.

Which mudflow from Rainier's summit collapse about 5,600 years ago reached the Puget Sound lowlands?

Osceola Mudflow: about 5,600 years ago the summit collapsed and sent a clay-rich lahar some 60 miles down the White River valley to Puget Sound, lowering the peak by roughly 1,600 feet.

Mount Rainier is on the Decade Volcano list of how many volcanoes judged most likely to cause loss of life?

16: the Decade Volcanoes, named by the International Association of Volcanology for the 1990s UN decade for disaster reduction, include Rainier because some 150,000 people live on its old lahar deposits.

Who joined Hazard Stevens on the first documented ascent of Mount Rainier in 1870?

Van Trump was still guiding two decades later, joining John Muir's 1888 climb and the first female ascent in 1890.

Who made the first female ascent of Mount Rainier, in 1890?

Fuller was a schoolteacher and journalist from the city below the mountain who later helped found a state alpine club.

Mount Rainier was the first park of its kind carved from what type of federal reserve?

A national forest: the park was the first carved from a forest reserve, the Pacific Forest Reserve of 1893, after the Sierra Club, the National Geographic Society and the Northern Pacific Railway backed the campaign.

What is the name of the standard summit route on Mount Rainier, used by most guided climbs?

Disappointment Cleaver, a rock rib separating two glaciers above the standard high camp, carries the route used by roughly three quarters of summit climbers and nearly all guided parties.

Most summit attempts on Mount Rainier start from which high camp on the mountain's south side?

Camp Muir, at 10,080 feet, is the high camp for the standard route and nearly all guided climbs; the other ranger-staffed camp, Schurman at about 9,500 feet, serves the northeast route.

The Liberty Ridge route, one of the Fifty Classic Climbs, ascends which aspect of Mount Rainier?

Its north face: Liberty Ridge rises between the Willis Wall and Liberty Wall on the mountain's north side, a steep ice route that has caused a disproportionate share of Rainier's climbing deaths.

Which of these is one of Mount Rainier's three named summits, alongside Columbia Crest and Liberty Cap?

With only about 138 feet of prominence it does not count as a separate peak, unlike the eroded remnant peak on the east flank.

If counted separately, the 11,138-foot remnant peak on Rainier's east flank would rank where among Washington's peaks?

Third highest: at 11,138 feet the peak trails only Rainier itself and Mount Adams, since it is an erosional remnant of the older, taller cone that stood before the summit collapsed.

How is the crater lake under 100-plus feet of ice in Rainier's west crater reached?

Through glacier caves: geothermal heat has melted a network of caves through the summit ice, and the small lake, about 130 feet long, lies at the bottom of the west crater's caves beneath more than 100 feet of ice.

A November 2006 'Pineapple Express' storm closed the park for six months after how much rain fell in 36 hours?

18 inches of rain fell in 36 hours on November 6-7, 2006, washing out roads and campgrounds; the park stayed closed to cars until May 5, 2007.

Which campground just inside the Nisqually Entrance was destroyed by the 2006 floods and never reopened?

Sunshine Point, a small campground beside the Nisqually River just inside the park's southwest entrance, was swept away when the river changed course in the November 2006 flood and was never rebuilt.

The entire park became a National Historic Landmark in 1997 as a showcase of which style?

NPS rustic: the park's roads, bridges, lodges and ranger stations, built of local stone and timber to blend with the landscape, make it the premier showcase of the style, earning the whole park landmark status in 1997.

Roughly what percentage of Mount Rainier National Park is designated wilderness?

97%: the Mount Rainier Wilderness covers about 228,000 of the park's roughly 236,000 acres, and it adjoins the Tatoosh, Clearwater, Glacier View and William O. Douglas Wildernesses.

Among peaks in the contiguous United States, Mount Rainier holds which distinction?

Most topographically prominent: Rainier rises 13,210 feet above the lowest contour encircling it, the greatest prominence of any peak in the contiguous United States, ahead of Mount Whitney's roughly 10,080 feet.

Which river from Rainier's south-east glaciers joins the Columbia between Kelso and Longview?

Cowlitz: fed by the Cowlitz and Ingraham glaciers on Rainier's southeast side, the river runs past Packwood and Castle Rock to meet the Columbia at Longview, while the White River instead feeds the Puyallup.

Which company, co-founded by Lou Whittaker in 1969, was long Mount Rainier's only guiding concession?

RMI Expeditions (Rainier Mountaineering Inc.), co-founded by Lou Whittaker and Jerry Lynch in 1969, held the park's only summit-guiding concession for decades, until Alpine Ascents and International Mountain Guides were also licensed in the 2000s.

Which endemic plant, found nowhere else, is named for the mountain?

Mount Rainier lousewort (Pedicularis rainierensis), a yellow-flowered plant of subalpine and alpine meadows, grows only in and around the park, making it the mountain's best-known endemic species.

Which native mammal, hunted to local extinction, has been reintroduced on Mount Rainier?

Pacific fisher: trapped out of the state by the mid-1900s, the cat-sized forest weasel was brought back from British Columbia and released in the park and on neighbouring federal forest land from 2015 to 2017.

Which county took over the lahar warning system the USGS built for Rainier in 1998?

Pierce County: its emergency management department took over the USGS lahar detection system, and in March 2024 ran the largest lahar evacuation drill yet, with some 45,000 students and staff walking to high ground.

Which name did NPS scientists strike from Rainier's official glacier list after it stopped moving?

Stevens Glacier, a small ice body on the mountain's south side, had thinned into stagnant ice that no longer flowed, so park scientists struck it from the glacier list after surveys found no movement.

Which pass at the park's east boundary has a log arch carrying the Pacific Crest Trail?

Chinook Pass, at 5,430 feet on the Cascade crest beside Tipsoo Lake, marks the park's east entrance, where a 1936 log arch carries the Pacific Crest Trail over State Route 410.

Roughly what total area do Mount Rainier's glaciers and snowfields cover?

35 square miles: the mountain's glaciers and permanent snowfields cover roughly 35 square miles, about a cubic mile of ice, the most glacier ice on any single peak in the contiguous United States.

In which year was Mount Rainier Wilderness designated, covering nearly all of the park?

1988: the park wilderness act signed by President Reagan on November 16, 1988, designated nearly all of Mount Rainier as wilderness, along with most of Olympic National Park.

A 1963 study found prehistoric people used the Rainier area most heavily in which period?

8,000 to 4,500 BP: the 1963 university survey led by archaeologist Richard D. Daugherty, with Allan H. Smith interviewing Native elders, found the heaviest prehistoric use of the area fell in that mid-Holocene span.

Which New Deal program ran camps in the park from 1933, building trails and campgrounds?

Civilian Conservation Corps: CCC enrollees based in several camps inside the park built trails, campgrounds and stone-and-log structures from 1933 until the program ended in 1942.