In the northwestern-most part of the United States (excluding Alaska), in the great state of Washington, sits a breathtaking mountain (even to those of us who have lived here for decades): Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier is the 5^th tallest mountain in the lower 48. It also happens to be an active volcano. There are many other mountains found in the Cascade Range that qualify as volcanoes, too, such as Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. The list numbers over 25 and the mountains stretch all the way up into British Columbia and down into Oregon and California. Mount Rainier is about 40 miles from Tacoma, as the crow flies, and about a 60-mile drive to the Nisqually entrance, located in the southwestern corner. That puts it about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, for those of you who might be coming from out of town to visit it.

The main destinations for visitors are Paradise, on the south side of the mountain, and Sunrise, on the northeast side. There are myriad day hikes starting at either of these locations. Another popular tourist or weekend activity is simply driving around the mountain and enjoying it from every angle. You can stop at numerous pullouts around the park and do a short day hike, or begin a longer hike, lasting an entire day or weekend.

The Wonderland Trail is a 93-mile-long trail that encircles Mount Rainier. Most people hike it in a week-and-a-half, or so, whereas others “hike” it in as little as a day (quite rare, I do believe—that amounts to jogging at almost 4 miles-per-hour for 24 hours!!!), or as much as a couple weeks. Since I am incapable of circumambulating this behemoth in a couple days, and wouldn’t want to kill myself trying, I figured I may as well take my time and enjoy it. We are going to take two weeks, starting on September 1^st and ending on September 14^th. By the time we’re done, we will have hiked well over 100 miles, including several day hikes that we will intersperse with the Wonderland Trail, itself. We will start at Mowich Lake (located in the northwest corner of the park), hiking counterclockwise (opposite the direction of most hikers), re-supplying at Longmire and Sunrise, and then ending up back at Mowich Lake (hopefully).

Some of possible day hikes we're looking forward to are Mirror Lakes (west side), Pinnacle Peak (south side), and Burroughs Mountain (near Sunrise on the east side). In the Mirror Lakes area (Indian Henry's Hunting Ground), we would like, in particular, to climb to the top of Pyramid Peak and explore Success Divide. We're also looking forward to exploring various aspects of glaciers, of which there are 26 named examples, and which cover some 36 square miles of the park. We'll try not to fall into any crevasses.

All images copyright © Jay Philip Williams
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