Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington
The fifth oldest national park, founded in 1899 Mt. Ranier is an incredibly impressive and all encompassing national park. Mount Rainier National Park is legendary for obvious reasons. The highlight of the park is Mount Rainier itself, which is a brute of a volcano and something that, when you're traveling with two little kids, seems incredibly intimidating to experience. What we learned is that, well, to experience the fullness of the park, you are going to need to be an experienced hiker. There are ways that you can enjoy it while keeping things pretty simple. and not to difficult for younger children.
We visited this National Park on the back of a Washington trip that included Seattle and Olympic National Park before we came to Rainier. So while not entirely spent, we were certainly tired up to this point. Oddly enough, as I write this over two years post our visit to Rainier, the highlight of that specific part of the trip was Packwood, Washington. This trip endeared us to a few small mountain towns, but Packwood was in particular one of my favorites.
Paradise entrance of Mount Rainier
Worth noting, that at certain times of the year, you need a park reservation to enter certain Mount Rainier entrances. You can do this through the Recreation.gov app easily, and it only costs $2 when we did it. Time slots opened at 7pm the night before and are typically a two-hour window of when you can arrive. Given our zest for Disney and Genie+ we sat there spamming refresh as the time window opened and we got an early slot for the Paradise entrance.
After the drive there, we did what was our most intense day of hiking. We did a pretty basic hike from Paradise's visitor center that was around 2 miles with 450 feet of elevation gain. We started on one trail, which was covered in snow, we hopped on another trail and passed a few really kind park rangers who told us the waterfall trail was clear so then we hopped on that one and it was stunning. Like a painting. The kids fed a chipmunk some cheezits and we admired the volcano and waterfall, then hiked back down. The waterfall is called Mrytle Falls and was so worth it!
After a lunch break and some exploration inside the visitors center, we took off to Snow Lake and completed a 3 mile hike with 700 feet of gain to a gorgeous glacial lake. This hike was up and down the entire way, anytime we thought we were there it was just another downhill. Once we got there, we found a spot close to the water and had a snack and George got in up to his knees in what was freezing glacial water.
This day was a prime example of kids being tougher than they think or we think they are. Five miles of hiking with over 1100 feet of elevation gain and hours of driving. Plus we had to tell George to slow down multiple times as he would just run and leave us all in the dust. This kid is made for hiking. There was certainly some complaining and a breakdown or six from both kids, but the hikes were intense and my tiny kids conquered them. So impressive!
Sunrise at Mount Rainier
No, I don't mean literal sunrise because that is around 5:15 in the morning and an hour's drive away. Sunrise is the other key spot inside of Mount Rainier, our reservation wasn't until 1PM (We were adjusted to the time change at this point and tired).
We took the morning to play ping-ping, Monopoly, build lincoln logs, and play some original Xbox games to the delight of all. Once we arrived at Sunrise the last full day and pace of the trip really caught up to us, we hiked about an hour and all looked at each other ready to hit the car and head back for coffee and snacks.
The good news is that everywhere you drive around the park features gorgeous peaks and differing views of Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens. These views were definitely more intense than the views at Paradise. I’m very glad we got to experience both. With temperatures ranging from mid-40s to mid-70s plus some of the most beautiful views we’ve ever seen.
Looking back, we certainly didn’t experience the fullness of what Mt. Rainier had to offer. We were too inexperienced and our kids too young to really get fully entrenched in the beauty and depth a park like Rainier has to offer. Our trip to the park was still gorgeous and I don’t regret a second of it. For two tiny kids to hike how they did and endure the driving how they endured, I remain proud and have such fond memories of this trip.
Should you go to Rainier, enjoy the town of Packwood, specifically the brewery. And enjoy the beauty, air, wildlife, and foliage of Mount Rainier National Park.
