How to spend one day in Mt Rainier National Park

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John Muir was spot on in his description of Mt Rainier as “the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”

My Dad and I spent a day roaming around this alpine garden as the finale of our Pacific Northwest vacation. It is located right outside of Ashford, WA, less than a 2hr drive from Seattle making it a reasonable day trip or weekend getaway.

We drove in through the Stevens Canyon Entrance and made our way to the Paradise Visitors center. The drive itself took longer than expected due to the hazardously winding mountainside roads and views that demanded we stop for pictures.

Along this drive, you will pass right by the famed Reflections Lake, the premier photo stop where, with the right lighting, you can capture the perfect reflection of Mt Rainier. And in this situation, two is definitely better than one.

Since we only had one day to spend, we decided to hike the Skyline Trail which is known for its fabulous views of Mt Rainier’s peak. This is a 5.4 mile fairly strenuous loop that gains 1700 ft in elevation up to Panorama point to a total elevation of 6800 ft.  The trailhead is just past the John Muir steps of the Paradise Visitor Center.

This is one of the most popular trails and there were tons of other hikers enjoying the same majestic views alongside us. This didn’t bother my Dad and I as we are fairly sociable hikers and like meeting new people on the trail. However if you are trying to avoid the crowds this is probably not the trail for you.

Apparently this trail is also known for its stunning lavender colored wildflowers. These were either not in bloom during our visit, or I was too busy looking up in awe to notice them. Either way-the views were clearly captivating enough without these flowers and I can only imagine how those pops of color would further enhance the whole magical experience.

For this trail, make sure to wear solid hiking boots as you will be trekking through some rugged terrain at times and need the extra stability.

We went in mid-July and much to my surprise, snow covered trails were still a problem that time of year. In fact, there was still so much snow that the Rangers didn’t even recommend doing the entire loop. They instead advised us to turn around at Panorama point because the far side of the loop was still socked in with snow making it impossible to see the trail.

I was skeptical at first, thinking the rangers were being overly cautious. However, even on the recommended portions there were mounds of snow covering the trail making it difficult to navigate at points. We decided to listen to the Rangers advice.

The trail was tough, both from the difficult terrain and steep elevation gains, however, we were spoiled with mountainous beauty at every turn which motivated us to keep going.

It took us about 2 hours to reach Panorama point- partially because we were being super cautious not to slip and fall in the snow and partially because we just could not stop taking pictures. I seriously took  slightly different versions of the same picture 25 times.  Oh well.

The views at the top were unparalleled. Not only did we have a fantastic vantage point of Mt. Rainier’s icy peak, we were also able to see the far off peaks of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt Hood.

We stopped at the top to enjoy a snack. I unfortunately chose to eat some crumbly pop-tarts. The chipmunks caught on to the fact that I was dropping bits of food and soon I was the most popular human on the peak.

One of these aggressive rodents actually jumped onto my shoulder. I swear it let out a battle cry to its friends because three more chipmunks showed up for the party. People were standing up and taking pictures of me under siege. It was a whole scene.

After surviving the great chipmunk siege of 2018, the trip back down was uneventful. Once you make it back to the visitors center, make sure to stop in for a Rainier beer to celebrate your successful trek.

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What was your Mt Rainier experience like? Which hikes ere your favorite? Are there any you would avoid or would say aren’t worth the hype?