Washington Cascades - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 338

of inhabitants who live in its shadow. Though it's an iconic peak to bag, climbing Rainier
is no picnic; old hands liken it to running a marathon in thin air with crampons stuck to
your shoes. Approximately 9000 people attempt it annually, but only half of them make
it to the top.
Beneath Rainier's volatile exterior, even darker forces fester. As an active strato-vol-
cano that recorded its last eruptive activity as recently as 1854, Rainier harnesses untold
destructive powers that, if provoked, could threaten downtown Seattle with mudslides
and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound. Not surprisingly, the mountain has long been imbued
with myth.
The Native Americans called the mountain Tahoma or Tacoma, meaning the 'mother
of waters'; George Vancouver named it Rainier in honor of his colleague and friend Rear
Admiral Peter Rainier, while most Seattleites refer to it reverently as 'the Mountain' and
forecast the weather by its visibility.
Encased in a 368-sq-mile national park (the US' fifth national park when it was inaug-
urated in 1899), the mountain's forest-covered foothills harbor numerous hiking trails
and huge swaths of flower-carpeted meadows. When the clouds magically disappear dur-
ing long, clear days in July and August, it becomes one of Washington's most paradisiac-
al playgrounds.