At 14,410 feet, Mount Rainier National Park is one of the most beautiful, yet least visited National Parks in the United States. Enjoy the photos and climbing video.
This is a complex landscape, but the explanation of its origins are simplicity itself: fire and ice. The mountain is a volcano born of fire and built up above the surrounding country by repeated eruptions and successive flows of lava. It is a relatively young volcano, only about one million years old. By contrast the mountains of the Cascade Range that Mount Rainier looks down upon are at least 12 million years old, created by the folding, buckling, and uplifting of the Earth’s surface. Mount Rainier is not an isolated volcano, for from Lassen Peak in California to Mount Garibaldi in British Columbia an entire line of volcanoes defines the north-south march of the Cascades. These peaks dominate the skyline, ever a reminder that they are only dormant and may at any time, like Lassen Peak in 1914-21, and Mount Saint Helens in 1980, erupt in fury and rage at the fragile world built by humans. One of the unexpected side benefits of these eruptions has been the deposition of ash and pumice layers that are rich in nutrients and support the abundance of wild flowers throughout the mountainous Pacific Northwest.
photo credit: pallavi_damera
Mount Rainier National Park maintains active relations with six Indian tribes located in its vicinity: the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Muckleshoot, Yakama, and Cowlitz. All but the Cowlitz trace their modern tribal identity to one or more of three treaties signed in 1854 and 1855. The Upper Cowlitz, or Taidnapam, did not sign a treaty with the United States, but like the treaty tribes, maintained traditional ties to landscapes that later became part of Mount Rainier National Park. Tribal people journeyed to the park in the summer and early fall to hunt and to gather berries, medicinal plants and other resources of use to them throughout the year. They continued to pursue these activities even after the park was created in 1899, and the mountain remains important to them to this day.
It was once widely believed that Indian people seldom used Mount Rainier’s imposing mountain landscapes. That view began to change in 1963 with the discovery of the park’s first archaeological site –a rockshelter later found to be about 1,200 years old and containing charred goat, mountain beaver, deer, elderberry and wild hazelnut remains in association with pit features, fire cracked rock, broken projectile points, and profuse stone tool re-sharpening flakes and debris. Archaeological studies at Mount Rainier began in earnest in the late 1990s with completion of the park’s first systematic survey and archaeological overview, and development of a permanent position to oversee protection of the park’s prehistoric and more recent historical cultural resources. In addition, an archaeological field school conducted by Central Washington University (CWU) between 1997 and 2001 provided valuable insight into the use of the northeastern portion of the park.
There are 26 major glaciers on Mount Rainier and numerous unnamed snow or ice patches. The Emmons Glacier has the largest area (4.3 square miles) and Carbon Glacier has the lowest terminus altitude (3,600 feet) of all glaciers in the contiguous 48 states. The Nisqually Glacier has shown dramatic changes in dimension within the last century (Heliker, Johnson and Hodge 1983). Mount Rainier’s glaciers are important indicators of climatic change, major visitor interpretive objects, sources of water for park aquatic systems, and hydroelectric and recreation pursuits outside of the park.
Historically, glacial outburst floods, torrential rains, and stream capture have caused small to moderate size debris flows. Most occur in drainages with large glaciers. Less common are the debris flows triggered by a drainage diversion in an unglaciated drainage basin. For example, the diversion of the Kautz Glacier meltwater into the Van Trump Basin triggered debris flows on the south side of the mountain in 2001 and 2003.
photo credit: lightsornothing1
Reaching the summit requires a vertical elevation gain of more than 9,000 feet over a distance of eight or more miles. Climbers must be in good physical condition and well prepared. Proper physical conditioning can offset the effects of fatigue that lead to mistakes and injuries.
Mount Rainier National Park is located downwind of a number of urban and industrial areas to the northwest and southwest and is not isolated from the by-products of industrialization. Manmade air pollutants are transported long distances and have been detected through air quality monitoring programs. A number of stationary and mobile sources of pollutants affecting the park include a variety of sources in the Puget Sound region as far north as Vancouver, and as far south as Portland, Oregon.
photo credit: K _ Thomas
Mount Rainier National Park and some of the surrounding U.S. Forest Service wilderness areas are Class I areas. Areas designated as Class I receive the highest level of air-quality protection. Consequently, Mount Rainier National Park staff are very involved in the National Park Service’s comprehensive air resources management program, designed to assess air pollution impacts and protect air quality related values.
photo credit: johncuthbert43
I wouldn’t consider myself a “Peak Bagger”, but after having climbed Pikes Peak and a few other Colorado 14′ers, I’ve got my eye on this one.
Source: National Park System
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