We saved Mount Rainier National Park for last during our national parks tour in Washington last July. Technically, it was just me saving it for last, as David had flown in early from Texas, met up with a climbing group, and ice-axed his way to the summit. Together we returned to Mount Rainier 13 years to the month after our first visit after the 2011 Seattle Fling. This time I was pregaming the Puget Sound Fling, proving once again that the annual Garden Fling (coming up this June in Memphis) offers a great opportunity for further explorations of distant regions.

Mount Rainier’s 14,410-ft peak is an active volcano and the most-glaciated mountain in the contiguous U.S.

Sunrise area

As of 2024, to ease overcrowding, Mount Rainier National Park requires you to reserve a timed-entry permit to access the Sunrise Corridor and Paradise Corridor, two popular areas of the park. Each corridor requires a separate reservation, and we planned on two days to see both areas. We explored the Sunrise area on our first day in the park.

Back in 2011 when we first visited, a long winter and cooler than normal summer meant wildflowers were scarce. This time they were plentiful. Broadleaf lupine was blooming in meadows and along the trails.

Magenta paintbrush too

Swaths of pink flowers in a fir-studded meadow

Pink mountain heather

Mountain bluebells, I think

Sitka valerian

Small-flowered penstemon

We spotted a helicopter making repeated passes overhead, toting a container on a long tether. We speculated it was carrying out human waste from remote pit toilets up on the mountain. Eww. But also, it’s gotta go somewhere.

A section of exposed rock reminded me of crevice gardens I’ve seen in Colorado and Austin. The bones…

…and the living colonization, with plants creeping through the crevices.

It’s amazing how plants can thrive in these narrow pockets of soil on a slab of rock.

Spreading phlox making a mini hanging garden

Panoramic vista

Paradise area

On the second day, we visited the Paradise Corridor and hiked a few trails. Edith Creek makes a pretty cascade flowing down from Mount Rainier.

Myrtle Falls provides a more dramatic show.

White avalanche lilies were dancing in the alpine meadows, bobbing their heads to a breezy tune only they could hear.

Their starry petals with yellow anthers curve backward atop slender stems.

So graceful

Wordsworth’s daffodil poem comes to mind.

Pink mountain heather

On a stroll around Louise Lake, I admired rosy spirea.

At Reflection Lake, the water doubles the view of majestic Mount Rainier.

At closer range, a thistle and fly attracted my notice.

A macroscopic world

One more of Reflection Lake, sans reflection (you have to be in the right spot)

Along the road, gravelly soil and boulders create happy conditions for small-flowered penstemon…

…and more rosy spirea.

The combo

Bumblebees were combing through the spirea.

Spirea and a sky full of Mount Rainier

This concludes my series about Washington’s three national parks. For a look back at Lake Diablo and Rainy Lake in North Cascades National Park, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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