Mt. Rainier News

He still walks to work, so there's that. And he continues to deal with big egos, with driven colleagues and another type of inveterate climber.

Unlike the last two years, popular recreation areas in Western Washington have escaped serious damage from this week’s heavy rain. Mount Rainier National Park and Gifford Pinchot National Forest were devastated by flooding in 2007. Last year, flooding hit Olympic National Park.

The Nisqually Road in Mount Rainier National Park will reopen today, a day earlier than expected. The road, and the park, have been closed since Nov. 12 when Kautz Creek jumped its banks and flooded the main road into the park.

Paradise echoed Monday not with the voices of park visitors, but with the thump and crash of a 4,500-pound wrecking ball smashing through the old visitor center.

Two milestones are timely reminders Washington's treasured, verdant livability is no accident, but the product of dedication, care and hard work. Washington Environmental Council celebrates 40 years of leadership in protecting the vistas and values held dear from the Columbia River to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Officials at Mount Rainier National Park have closed the park due to flooding along a main road. Heavy rains sent Kautz Creek over its banks and across the Nisqually Road in the park's southwest corner to a depth of more than 6 inches. Park rangers escorted seven guests from the National Park Inn at Longmire on Tuesday night, using a service road.

The Department of the Interior is expected to announce this month its decision regarding changes in rules governing guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. When he visited Mount Rainier National Park for the Oct. 10 opening of the new Jackson Visitor Center, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the announcement would be made soon.

Local author Bruce Barcott and park superintendent Dave Uberuaga will discuss the challenges and future of Mount Rainier National Park at a program Tuesday. The National Parks Conservation Association is hosting the 6:30 p.m. event at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle.

Falls is creeping down the hills and mountains of Mount Rainier National Park. At the same time, park staff is preparing to shut down a number of areas in preparation for winter.

The Pacific Northwest may not be blessed with the brilliance of a New England autumn in the lowlands, but we guarantee that if you hike into the subalpine zone of the Cascade Range in October, the spectrum of reds, oranges and yellows will arouse your retinal cones and knock off your optical socks.

Friday's opening of the new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center completes a nearly $50 million, nine-year transformation of Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park.

Friday's opening of the new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center completes a nearly $50 million, nine-year transformation of Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park.

Nothing lures visitors to Paradise like the transitory displays of wildflowers that populate Mount Rainier’s high mountain meadows. But summer sojourns could fade into memory and panoramic vistas vanish as alpine asters, rosy pussytoes and purple lupines are crowded out by trees.

By 7 a.m. on a summer morning, dozens of climbers were tramping past our tent in the White River campground in Mount Rainier National Park. I stared sleepily at the climbers, their ice axes and helmets dangling from super-sized backpacks, as they set out on the trail that begins at the campground, their first steps in scaling 14,410-foot Rainier.

Tom Kiernan sees positive things happening in Washington’s premiere national parks, but says much more needs to be done. I had the chance last week to talk with the president of the National Parks Conservation Association, which has worked to protect national parks since 1919.