Mt. Rainier National Park

At the end of the summer in 2022 my sister was able to come down to visit, we were going to drive to Boise for a celebration of life for our Grandma. Before we left we decided to take a day trip to Mt. Ranier. I had actually never been there, even though I’ve probably lived in Western Washington for about 15 years of my life. We drove most of the way the night before, spent the night in a hotel, then spent the next day visiting Paradise and hiking some of the trails before driving home. With the exception of my daughter getting carsick on the drive up, it was a great trip. We entered the park through the Nisqually entrance, it was a windy road up to Paradise (which is what led to my daughters carsickness the night before), but it is very pretty. It was a cool drive through the narrow road as it winded through tall trees, with glimpses of waterfalls and the Mt. Ranier through the gaps. The wildflowers were still out and beautiful, my favorite were the purple ones. The park was very busy, I would say if you want parking to get there early, or expect the hike to the visitor center to be longer than most the hikes around the visitor center. I parked on the side of the road, the only reason the spot was open was because it was on the precipice of a cliff, which almost gave my Mom and Sister a heart attack, but I figured I had space, and the kids were already hot, tired, and starting to whine, so I thought we either parked there, or drove home… luckily the car didn’t fall down the hillside. We spent a few hours exploring the area around the Paradise Lodge, walking to Myrtle Falls, which was a nice short hike on a paved trail. We also drove down to the Reflection Lakes and walked along the shores. On our way out of the park we also stopped at Narada Falls and walked down to the viewing platform. I will definitely plan another trip up here, and would love to explore some of the less busy areas of the park.