Day Hikes in Mt. Rainier NP
Find day hikes via a map
MPG V2.5, November 2008
There are some excellent day hikes in Mount Rainier National Park, which are easily accessible from visitors areas (parking with a short hike) or from trailheads alongside the highways through the NP. The National Park Service at Mt. Rainier NP has a short list of easily accessible day hikes, (overview), a longer list of day and other hikes, along with the latest trail conditions.
Any of these day hikes provide many photography opportunities of the variety of scenes in the NP, as I note in my photography guide and photo tips. And many provide views of Nt. Rainier and other mountains and mountain ranges in the Cascade Mountains (photo of Grand Park, above, from Freemont Lookout).
Note about Northwest Quadrant hikes.-- Due to the damage from the November 2006 floods the Carbon River road is closed at the NP boundary. The trailhead starts there and continues along the route of the old road to the Ipsut Campground, 5.0 miles from the entrance. This distance is included in the trail information on the map.
Currently there are three excellent books, nos. 1-3 below, and two pamphlets, no. 4, for day hikes in Mt. Rainier NP. Please note the change about the Carbon River (Northwest Quadrant) entrance above since the extra distance is not included in any of the descriptions in these books. This does limit the number of day hikes from this entrance to the moderate or harder, some hikes requiring a backcountry permit for overnight camping to get to the trailhead.
- -- Day HIkes Mount Rainier by Heidi Schneider and Mary Skjelset, Falcon Press
- -- Day Hike Mount Rainier by Ron Judd, Sasquatch Books
- -- Day Hiking Mount Rainier by Don Nelson, Mountaineers Books
- -- 12 Short Hikes Mt Rainier NP, Sunrise and Paradise volumes by Jeffrey Smoot, Falcon Press
In addition to hiking guides, you will need to remember two things. The first is having a good daypack with the ten essentials along with other things you want to take with you. The second is simple, a map. And you can find sources for maps and download DRG files of USGS topo maps.
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