And so you see that as I hiked up the trail, the clouds and mists parted. Mt Rainier was the 5th National Park, declared in 1899, 10 years after Washington became a state. It's unique because it has 4 life zones from bottom to top: Lower Forest (old growth), Pacific Silver Fir zone, Subalpine zone (shown here), and Alpine zone which starts at over 6,000 feet. It has the most glaciers of any single peak anywhere in the U.S. Mt Rainier is a volcano, with the most recent eruption cycle ending about 1,000 years ago. In the foreground you can see some erratic rocks, scattered at some time by eruption. |