Beautiful Places: Mt. Rainier National Park

If my love affair with the Pacific Northwest was launched by a specific event, I can't remember what it was. It might have been a ferry ride, a whale-watching tour or a particularly gooey-sweet pastry. I don't remember not loving the region. I've spent some of the most enjoyable weeks of my life between the coziness of downtown Portland and the stark beauty of British Columbia's Desolation Sound.

One of the best parts of the Pacific Northwest, whether your definition includes Northern California and Alaska or not, is its national parks. And Mt. Rainier National Park - just a couple hours' drive from Seattle - is one of my favorites.

With its peak reaching 14,410 feet above sea level, Mt. Rainier dominates views from throughout the area on sunny days - I've seen it from an eastbound ferry leaving the Olympic Peninsula, for half an hour prior to landing in a plane headed into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, on runs between Lake Sammamish and the Issaquah Alps, from Lake Union in the heart of Seattle and from a bridge around mile 19 of the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle marathon. But I've also been in the park, staring straight at the mountain, and seen nothing at all - like at Denali in Alaska, the cloud cover can be impossibly thick.

But Mt. Rainier is far from being the only attraction at the park that bears its name. Mt. Rainier National Park covers 368 square miles of land, lake and mountain, with more than 260 miles of trails. You can go from sweating at the park entrance to staring at snowbanks outside the Paradise Visitor Center an hour later. You'll see marmots and pika, hummingbirds and northern spotted owls, shaggy mountain goats, timid black-tailed dear, black bears, elk and various species of salmon. You might find views of fields of wildflowers in brilliant bloom, or of the icy blue heart of one of the park's 25 named glaciers.

Spending time at Mt. Rainier is a sort of live-action Choose Your Own Adventure book. You can eat a picnic lunch at White River Campground and picnic area or browse through the Longmire Museum or one of the three visitor centers. You can take a short, easy walk above the tree line on the Nisqually Vista Trail (named for its views of Nisqually Glacier) or under the shade of enormous old-growth cedars and Douglas Fir at Grove of the Patriarchs (with the bonus of beautiful views of the Ohanapecosh River, particularly from the trail's short suspension bridge). You can join the crowds of cyclists pedaling their way up to Sunrise (if you pick that one, though, I'll meet you at the top, ready to pour water and Gatorade down your throat when you collapse outside the visitor center) or over to Mowich Lake. You can trek to Glacier Basin and back in a day or take the challenge of backpacking the 93-mile Wonderland Trail (the National Park Service recommends a minimum of 10-14 days - longer, with snow or bad weather) around Mt. Rainier itself. Whatever your preferences, the park can keep you busy for as much time as you have to spend there.

For those unfamiliar with our national parks, Rainier is a great place to start getting acquainted with them. I've been hiking and camping in national parks throughout the country since I was in the womb, and this one has been in my top four since my first visit at the age of eight or nine (it has a great Junior Ranger program that will have your kids lecturing you on wildlife and scolding you if you set a toe off a marked pathway or trail). It's breathtakingly beautiful, home to an enormous number of species of flora and fauna and its staff is genuinely concerned with finding the balance between helping visitors discover all that the park has to offer and protecting its delicate ecosystems.

If you ever find yourself in the Seattle area, your visit won't be complete without at least a day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park.

For more information on Mt. Rainier National Park, visit the National Park Service's official site: http://www.nps.gov/mora/. All photos taken by and property of J. Pinneo.