Visiting Mount Rainier National Park | Paradise Entrance
- Happy Nomads
- Jan 17
- 4 min read
Hey there! If you're looking for things to do in Mount Rainier National Park, this blog is for you! Today, I’ll be writing about our first time visiting this magical place. I’ll be covering our two-day itinerary at this national park, including the hikes we did and our recommendations.
It was the end of August when we visited, and the weather was perfect! There were still wildflowers covering the meadows, a snowy peak on Mount Rainier, and plenty of wildlife. I would love to see this National Park in the fall; I’ve seen pictures of the colors and it looks amazing.
We came to Mount Rainier National Park after visiting Glacier National Park in Montana, so we arrived from the northeast and decided to camp on the southern side of the park. We entered the park through the Paradise entrance. We were hoping to visit the Sunrise entrance as well but we ended up not having enough time–maybe next year!
The first day, we woke up before sunrise and headed to Reflection Lake. I highly recommend making time in your trip to see Mount Rainier during sunrise at least once. The pink and orange hues on the massive mountain is simply breathtaking. Reflection Lake is a great spot for views of Mount Rainier and photo opportunities. From here, we headed to the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center which had a completely packed parking lot at 8am on a Friday. So we opted for a less crowded area and walked the Nisqually Vista Trail (1.2 miles). This is an easy, paved trail that is great for families, but also has a unique view of Mount Rainier. We had this trail completely to ourselves and it was lovely.
Views of Mount Rainier from Reflection Lake and the Nisqually Vista trail
Next, we headed over to Narada Falls and Christine Falls. Both are just short walks to view the falls! And who doesn’t love waterfalls?! For Christine Falls, we definitely recommend parking before the falls, walking down the steps, and getting a view from underneath the bridge.
Narada Falls and Christine Falls
Afterwards, we headed back to the visitor center to get our sticker, magnet, and token! It took us over an hour to get into the park from our camp spot in the National Forest, so we headed out of the park to have lunch and take our pets on an adventure. We have to be mindful of how long we're away from our RV because of our pets, but you could easily continue on after Christine Falls to hike to Comet Falls (1.8 miles) and Carter Falls (1.1 miles). The Carter Falls trailhead is also next to the Nisqually River–which would be a great spot for lunch!
The next morning, we started the Skyline Loop trail (5.8 miles) at 6am. This is the same parking lot at the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center so definitely get there early! We didn’t have any issues parking but the trail was definitely packed almost the whole time. It was a Saturday so that was our mistake, haha. Definitely try to go early on a weekday if you can!
The Skyline Loop trail was steep and we did it clockwise–which I would recommend so you can get that steep climb out of the way earlier in the day. Despite it being a busy trail, it is still one of our all time favorites. The views of Mount Rainier are crazy, especially at sunrise. On this hike, you’ll get to cross an alpine meadow! This is an extremely sensitive and beautiful ecosystem. Please treat it with kindness while visiting :) This means protecting the delicate plants by staying on trail, leaving the wildflowers and impressive mushrooms that grow here untouched & unpicked, and respecting wildlife by giving them space. Unfortunately, we witnessed the opposite of all of these things on our hike.
Views of Mt. Rainier, the Skyline trail, and a wildflower meadow
I studied wildlife biology and am an avid nature lover, so I find myself struggling to understand how folks who take time out of their own busy schedules to enjoy our natural spaces can treat them with such disregard. These beautiful, cherished, delicate spaces are seeing visitation rates that they have never seen before… And, I just hope that everyone who is taking their own time and money to visit them would want these spaces to last for generations to come (*fingers crossed*). Okay, rant over. If you ever have any questions about natural processes or leave no trace principles, I am an open book! :)
The Skyline Loop trail also includes the lovely Myrtle Falls viewpoint, which you can do as a shorter hike if you start counter-clockwise and hike to the falls and back. I highly recommend this view of Mount Rainier–again, another impeccable view of this towering peak. We actually saw a black bear here! And in the middle of the day! Pretty crazy. I would love to see this view at sunrise or sunset, so if you’re doing the shorter version of the hike, I would recommend those times to avoid peak crowds!
Black bear sighting and Myrtle Falls
After the hike, we headed back to the RV to relax and then take our dog on an adventure! We took our dog, Bae, to the cute little town of Packwood. There was a huge flea market event happening–which was a little overwhelming with the amount of people walking around, driving, and trying to park–so we opted to walk down to the Cowlitz River and enjoy the icy water. Our dog loves to swim! This would be a great spot to kayak as well. We stopped in at Packwood Brewing Co (highly recommend!) before heading back to camp for the evening.
Those are our two spectacular days in Mount Rainier National Park! If you'd like to experience the park alongside us, check out our YouTube video. If you have any questions about dry camping or the spot we stayed in, please feel free to comment or reach out!
Happy travels! <3
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