Blue skies and great weather help explain how Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park got its name/NPS
Add Mount Rainier National Park to the growing lists of parks that are straining at the seams with visitation. So busy is the park this summer that officials are discouraging weekend visits, instead recommending that you show up in midweek and early in the day.
Officials at the park in Washington state say there already have been long wait times at park entrance stations, heavy traffic on park roads, and congested parking lots.
"The park continues to work on ways to reduce congestion in heavily visited areas," they say, "such as testing various approaches to traffic flow at Paradise. Visitors are reminded that overflow parking is also available at the Paradise Picnic Area and along Paradise Valley Road. At Sunrise, when the parking area is filled to capacity, incoming vehicles are held at the White River Entrance Station and allowed to proceed only when parking spots become available by vehicles departing the lot."
As of this past Friday, most park facilities and roads are open for the summer, including roads to Sunrise and to Mowich Lake. Ricksecker Point will remain closed due to the road paving project between Longmire and Paradise. A complete listing of the current park road status and facility hours can be found on the park website.
“There are incredible experiences throughout the park and the surrounding areas,” said Superintendent Randy King. “By planning your trip to avoid peak congestion times, you may find that you spend less time looking for parking and more time enjoying the park.”
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Comments
So people who only are able to go on weekends shouldn't visit the park? I, as someone who does have the freedom to visit on weekdays, do so for both selfish and altruistic reasons, but honestly, all of these "suggestions" that aren't helpful for working people basically serve to make them feel unwelcome in their own parks. And that sucks eggs.
Megaera, I don't think that is the message the park is sending here. The NPS is trying to enhance the experience of every visitor to the park. There is limited parking throughout the park and they are merely suggesting that if you are able to come mid-week then you should in order to provide a better experience for all.
I was just there two weeks ago on Monday and it was very crowded at Paradise. Although the signs said that the parking lot was full, people were leaving on a regular basis, so it was easy to find a spot but I doubt that would have been true earlier in the day. I do have a message for the park staff, though. We saw a group of employees near the entrance to the visitor center who were in a group talking and ignoring visitors. There was another group of uniformed employees in the parking lot doing the same thing. This is unacceptable.
I visited Sunrise Wednesday, July 5th, and arrived at 7:10-ish am at Sunrise Point parking area (hope I got that overlook name correct) to find I was the only person there. When I arrived at the Sunrise visitor center parking lot, there were maybe 4-5 other cars there and that was it. People streamed in all that morning, but not in huge crowds, nor were the trails really that crowded. By the time I left around 1:30pm, there were still parking places available. I'm heading off to stay at Paradise (literally and figuratively) this Friday and it will be interesting to see differences. I have a feeling Paradise is more popular in general than Sunrise, even though there are currently more snow-free trails at Sunrise than Paradise. Well, allow me to amend that - there were more snow-free trails immediately around the Sunrise visitor center / parking lot area. My cameras and I did not traipse out into the hinterlands, where there might have been more snow.