Washington Cascades - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 340

certain James Longmire, who first came here in 1883 during a climbing trip when he no-
ticed the hot mineral springs that bubbled up in a lovely meadow opposite the present-
day National Park Inn. He and his family returned the following year and established
Longmire's Medicinal Springs, and in 1890 he built the Longmire Springs Hotel. Since
1917 the National Park Inn has stood on this site - built in classic 'parkitecture' style -
and is complemented by a small store, some park offices, the tiny Longmire Museum (
360-569-2211, ext 3314; 9am-6pm Jun-Sep, to 5pm Oct-May) and a number of im-

portant trailheads.

Paradise VISITOR CENTER

'Oh, what a paradise!' exclaimed the daughter of park pioneer James Longmire
on visiting this spot for the first time in the 1880s. Suddenly, the high-mountain nirvana
had a name, and a very apt one at that. One of the snowiest places on earth, 5400ft-high
Paradise remains the park's most popular draw, with its famous flower meadows backed
by dramatic Rainier views on the days (a clear minority annually) when the mountain de-
cides to take its cloudy hat off. Aside from hiding numerous trailheads and being the
starting point for most summit hikes, Paradise guards the iconic Paradise Inn (built in
1916 and refurbished in 2008) and the massive, informative Henry M Jackson Visitor
Center ( Click here ) , that holds a cutting-edge museum with hands-on exhibits on
everything from flora to glacier formation and shows a must-see 21-minute film entitled
Mount Rainier: Restless Giant . Park naturalists lead free interpretive hikes from the visit-
or center daily in summer, and snowshoe walks on winter weekends.

Activities

Climbing
Mt Rainier was first climbed in 1870 by Hazard Stevens and PB Van Trump. The most
popular route starts at Paradise and involves a brief night's rest at Camp Muir before
rising between midnight and 2am to don crampons and ropes for the climb over Disap-
pointment Cleaver and the Ingraham Glacier to the summit. All climbers going higher
than Camp Muir must register at the Paradise Ranger Station next to the Henry M Jack-
son Visitors Center. Excellent four-day guided ascents ($991) are led by Rainier Moun-
taineering Inc ( www.rmiguides.com ; 30027 SR706 E, Ashford; 4-day ascent $991) .

Cross-Country Skiing
During the winter the road is generally plowed as far as Paradise, and people take to the
trails on cross-country skis and snowshoes. The Longmire Ski Touring Center (