Order a Visitors' GuideFill Your WAnderlust! - Order a Free Visitors' Guide

The Volcanoes

Do Rainier
Tushakoley/Shutterstock

Do Rainier

Do Rainier

There are as many ways to experience Mount Rainier as there are seasons in a year.
Read More...

Read More About

More from the Washington State Visitors' Guide
Do Rainier

There are as many ways to experience Mount Rainier as there are seasons in a year.

7 Side Trips

Don't Miss

Volcanoes With Kids

Mount Rainier looms in the distance, but that's not what has 14-year-old Garrison's attention.

Impact Zone

Approach from the west and you parallel the Toutle River, proceeding uphill through an orderly progression of visitors centers and overlooks that end at Toutle's Johnston Ridge Observatory.

From our Archives

From the Ashes

FOR MANY WASHINGTONIANS, May 18, 1980, is a day that will forever echo across their memories. It was on that morning, at 8:32, that an earthquake caused the north face of Mount St. Helens to collapse,

Mountain High

Mount Rainier National Park displays year-round wonders.

Drop Dead Gorge-ous

The Columbia River Gorge is a stunner.

Back to the Future

Exploring Vancouver offers timeless fun.

Hot Tips

WASHINGTON STATE is home to five major composite volcanoes, including three clustered in its southwest corner: Mounts Rainier, St. Helens, and Adams.

Peak Pursuit

SUMMITING THE LOWER 48s tallest glaciatedpeak: Mount Rainier.

Underground in a Volcano

THE IDEA OF WALKING into a volcano sounded strange to begin with, but when somebody told me Id need a jacket to stay warm, I had to check it out.

Blast Times

AFTER THE ERUPTION of Mount St. Helens in May 1980, then-president Jimmy Carter observed that the devastation made the moon look like a golf course.

Mountains Abloom

AFTER MONTHS of winter, the splashes of color that highlight Northwest landscapes bring an April that is downright irresistible.

Misty Mountain

The stars look like diamonds on black velvet from the mountain.

Wild Tastes

Some 2,000-plus farms make theirhomes in Lewis and Cowlitz Counties.Fryer chickens are raised here in abundance,but what may be most prolific arethe delectables the forests produce.

Seeking Sasquatch

Up high in the North Cascades, night and forest shroud my group in near-darkness. Just enough ambient light remains to toss snowballs a playful salute from one species hoping to communicate with another.

High Five

Mount Rainierthe Lower 48s mostglaciated peak and an active volcanolooms large ... and not just because of its14,410-foot height. Here are five ways toexperience pure wonder on and aroundits slopes.

Volcanic Majesty

PART OF THE FUN of visiting Mount St. Helensthe craggy volcanic mountain that famously blew its top in 1980is getting there.

Flag Planters

The volcanoes of Washington have served as training ground for some of the most accomplished mountaineers in the world.

Hike Rainier

The hike to Camp Muir on 14,410-foot Mount Rainier is one of the most spectacular in the Northwest.