Mt. Rainier
Mount Rainier lies 54 miles south/southeast of Seattle, and rises 14,410 feet above sea level, making it the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range and in the state of Washington.
Plan Around Mt. Rainier
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Mt. Rainier Details
Mount Rainier lies 54 miles south/southeast of Seattle, and rises 14,410 feet above sea level, making it the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range and in the state of Washington. Here, you'll find rainforests, dozens of waterfalls, a box canyon, fields of wildflowers come summertime, and places to get close-up views of the mountain's impressive glaciers without strapping on climbing gear. The mountain, named by famous explorer George Vancouver after his friend (and Royal Navy Rear Admiral) Peter Rainier, was known as Mount Tacoma or Tahoma among the local Native Americans. The first recorded summiting occurred in 1870, when mountaineer and writer Hazard Stevens and fellow mountaineer P.B. Van Trump climbed to the top of Point Success (the second tallest summit, at 14,158 feet). With its 35 square miles of permanent glaciers and snowfields, Mount Rainier ranks as the most glaciated mountain in the Lower 48. The summit has two 1,000-foot-wide volcanic craters, and the geothermal heat from these craters sometimes melts the snow around their rims. The mountain also has one of the world's largest volcanic glacier cave networks, with nearly 2 miles of passageways beneath the summit craters. A crater lake, the highest in North America at 14,203 feet, measures about 130 feet long by 30 feet wide and 16 feet deep, and sits in the west crater below 100 feet of ice, only accessible from the cave network. This active volcano, which last erupted in 1894, lies along the Ring of Fire, a series of volcanic ranges that form a ring around the Pacific Ocean, and include the western coasts of North America and South America, Antarctica, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and the Aleutian Islands.
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Low
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Nearby Parks Around Mt. Rainier
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Nearby Points of Interest Around Mt. Rainier
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The Cascade Range
The Cascade Range stretches from the southern British Columbia to northern California.
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Columbia Crest
Mount Rainier has three summits, the highest of which is called the Columbia Crest.
0.6 mi away
Point Success
Mount Rainier has three summits, the second highest of which is Point Success at 14,158 feet.
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Liberty Cap
Liberty Cap at 14,112 feet is the third highest of Mount Rainier's three summits.
1.1 mi away
South Mowich Glacier
The South Mowich Glacier, located on Rainier's western side, starts at 12,000 feet at the cliffs above the Sunset Amphitheater and flows west before plunging 2,000 feet.
