Kid Outdoors--Places (Mt. Rainier)

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	World Heritage Site. National Park since 1899. Highest mountain in the Pacific Northwest. More glaciers than any mountain in the United States outside of Alaska.	Mt. Rainier with Little Tahoma to the right


	*Map courtesy of the National Park Service
	Glaciers Long view down a glacier The glaciers on Mt. Rainier cover almost as much area as Boston, MA or Anaheim, CA!	Glaciers are giant rivers of ice, created when a lot of that falls on the mountain in the winter doesn't melt in the summer. As the years go by, the snow piles up, higher and higher, and freezes into ice that runs slowly down the mountain. Mt. Rainier has 26 "living, moving" glaciers and 15 remains of glaciers. The largest glacier in the United States outside of Alaska, the Emmons Glacier--which is 4.5 miles/7.2 km long--is on Mt. Rainier.
		The summit of Mt. Rainier
		Looking down on Little Tahoma

	Mountaineering is the sport of climbing really big and sometimes dangerous mountains. Glaciers are one reason why. To travel across glaciers, you need special equipment and special training... As you can see from the views, though, it's worth the hard work! If you know what you are doing, Mt. Rainier takes about two days to climb.	Mountaineers The mountain casts a shadow as the sun goes down
	Camp at over 10,000 ft/3048 m
	Rainier Mountaineering, RMI, was founded by the first Americans to reach the top of Mt. Everest. They trained on Mt. Rainier, in fact, to get ready for Everest. For a fee, RMI will show you how to climb Mt. Rainier and take you to the top.

	Clear days are rare for Mt. Rainier-- less than 1 in every 10 in the winter-- but well worth waiting for.
	Visitor's Information How To Get There: Seattle is the nearest big city if you have to fly. Buses then go from Seattle to Mt. Rainier National Park. If you have camping and hiking equipment with you, it is easiest to take a car. Best Time To Go: For most people, summer is the only time to go to Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier is one of the snowiest places on earth. A LOT of snow falls in the winter--which can start already in September--so the roads into the park are closed much of the year. Mt. Rainier is a very cloudy and rainy place, however, so even in the summer the chances are good that you will hit some bad weather. If you want to see anything good, you may have to wait around a few days for the clouds and fog to clear out.
	Best Things To Do: If you want to see views, you will have to hike uphill. Even if you don't climb to the top of the mountain you can climb part of the way up. In the summer, you can hike from the main visitor center at Paradise to a hut (Camp Muir) that is about 10 000 feet/3050 m high, crossing ground that is all snow-covered but not dangerous--and do it in a day (a loooong day), if you are in good shape. There are always a lot of people climbing to this hut in the summer, so you can't get lost. Just be sure to bring the basics--food, water and clothes for wet and cold weather--and turn around if the weather turns bad, which happens a lot on Mt. Rainier in the summer (and even more often the rest of the year). If this is too hard, there are plenty of other things to do, like visiting the ice caves--which change every year--or climbing the much smaller mountains that are at the foot of Mt. Rainier. Almost any of them give a great view of the mountain--on a clear day!	Camp Muir Paradise
		Mt. Rainier ice caves
	Where To Stay: There is a beautiful lodge at the Paradise Visitor center on Mt. Rainier, but it can be expensive and it fills up early. For a better time in the outdoors, you can stay in the campground in the National Park. They are first-come, first-served and cost usually less than $20 per night. (And there are showers in the visitor center.)
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