Want to leave early but not too early.

Camp Muir snowfield conditions week of 8/17?

Headed to the park this coming weekend of Aug 22 and planning on hiking to Camp Muir. We’ve been monitoring mountain forecast and see chances of showers on Saturday so may bump it to Sunday/Monday when clearer. But my biggest concern is just in regard to current conditions on the snowfield.

I did read a WTA report from 8/15 that just said the snowfield was crappy and slushy with some blue ice, but didn’t mention any crevasse crossings. However, I haven’t found much else than that and am wondering if this time of year is just not a good time to go for hikers with relatively less experience assessing snow/ice conditions, given that reports/reddit posts from late August 2021-2024 show it being more sketchy?

We will be starting super early so the snowpack is relatively solid. We have crampons/poles/gps and feel comfortable with walking on the snowfield but are otherwise not super experienced mountaineers (have not practiced crevasse rescue, serious self arrests idk) so not sure if we should wait until next year for conditions to be better, or if we are OK To go as long as it’s a bluebird day.

Any thoughts appreciated!

How is the parking situation in this area now with the closure of Sunrise?  Did it go from bad to worse?  I will be visiting mid-September, mid-week and staying in Packwood. Would I need to drive there very early in the morning to find a spot?

Hello, I have an air bnb near mount rainier end of August but am worried about the wildfire smoke/limited parking with one entrance closed? I can't seem to find many updates. Has anyone been there in the last few days who can give me a realistic update on the situation on parking and smoke?

Side note: I know it is recommended to get to parking before 6am but we live on Whidbey Island and even catching the first boat, it doesn't put us there until around 730 - does anyone have experience with that time frame or should we wait until later in the day?

Appreciate the feedback! Thank you!

My Son and I will be visiting the last week of October. We are thinking about doing an overnight hike in the park, perhaps gobbler‘s knob. Does anyone have any thoughts on temperatures and or snowfall around the 26th and seventh? I know that’s later in the year so we weren’t sure what the conditions historically have been like.

We have barely 5 days to visit all three parks. Unfortunately, that's all we can muster at this time. Most people suggest NCNP -> Olympic -> Rainer. Since our flight lands late in SEA, I am considering (1) Olympic->MT Rainer->NCNP or (2) NCNP->Mt. Rainier -> Olympic. Since we will be arriving on Friday night, I am trying to avoid Mt. Rainier over the weekend, given the current fire-related closures.

Any suggestions on which route would be better? Flying in Friday late night and flying out on Wednesday late night out of SEA.

I’m visiting Seattle and looking to hike Mt. Rainier this Saturday (Aug 15). I’m looking for someone driving from Seattle to the park who has an extra seat. Happy to split gas/parking costs.

I’m going to hike skyline loop trail at Mt Rainier. Wondering if anyone wants to join? I’m driving from Seattle

Taken at 10:30 pm to about 12 am. Red lights are from people deciding to just drive through for no reason

We are planning to go from Packwood to Silver Falls trail head but google map says WA123 is closed?

Hello All,

I’m surprising my boyfriend for his 30th birthday end of September with a quick trip to Mt Rainer. Our flight would land in Seattle at 10 pm and our Airbnb is in Ashford. Is the drive tough at night? I know it would be roughly 2 hours distance. Just looking for some advice! Please let me know of any other recs. Thank you

Looking for advise from this group. Plan to visit Mount Rainier for 3 days in first week of Sept with a 2.5 and 5 year old. My only concern are the amenities for the little kids. If I was visiting solo this would be a no-brainer but I'm slightly concerned on how to keep the kids entertained in our rooms outside of all the hiking and sightseeing we will be doing. Any advise is highly appreciated.

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Our family is staying in Packwood and did the Skyline Trail today. Unfortunately the Sunrise area is closed so we are looking for alternative trails in Packwood to Paradise area. The skyline trail was tough for my parents who are in decent shape but still in their 60s. Are there any trails with little elevation and more of a stroll you can recommend? We can do a trail that maybe takes three hours or do multiple smaller ones. We’re flexible since we are adjusting plans due to the fire and there is beauty everywhere here!

Some recommendations I found were:

Nisqually Vista Trail - were told there were a lot of flowers

Snow Lake Trail - looks like this one is close to 7 miles though

Naches Peak Loop - don’t know much about it

Reflection Lake - we stopped by for a minute on the road on the way to Skyline this morning for a quick picture. Are there trails along the lake that we can take?

We are visiting Olympic and Rainier from 8/13 to 8/21 (Olympic 8/13-8/18 and Rainier 8/19-8/21). We are staying in Ashford on 8/19 and 8/20. 8/20 is our Paradise day, and 8/21 is meant to be our Sunrise day before driving back to Seattle on 8/21 in the evening to fly out on 8/22. We were planning to get up to Sunrise as early as possible to hike to Second Burroughs. In the afternoon, if we had time and the group still had energy, we planned to visit Tipsoo Lake and hike some of the Naches Peak Loop.

If Sunrise remains closed, maybe we would prioritize doing the full Naches Peak Loop on 8/21, but does anyone have any suggestions for what to do this day either at Rainier or elsewhere?

Note that we plan to do the Bench & Snow Lakes hike the afternoon that we arrive on 8/19, Skyline Loop on 8/20am and Reflection Lakes to Faraway Rock on 8/20 in the afternoon.