Gardens open to the Public > Good gardens to visit (USA)

Alpine Gardens on Mt. Rainier

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bossgard:

Hiking Up, Looking Down (South)

Paradise Park with Tatoosh Range in background.

An early morning sunrise casts its shadows, as we are welcomed to Paradise.
And what a welcoming sight it is.

It encourages us to go forward and upward to one of the most thrilling and beautiful hiking adventures Toby and HB have ever had.

Eric Hardy:
Hi Toby, what a wonderful place! I see that you have now mastered the art of posting photos on the forum. Well done.
Eric

bossgard:
Welcome to a mountain wonderland famous for its dense forests, dazzling wildflower meadow, tremendous snowfields, and rugged glaciers. if you visit on a sunny day take time to absorb the fresh smell of living trees and soil, the soothing and sometimes deafening sound of falling water, and the intense green of the Pacific Northwest. If you visit on a cloudy day, remember that you are experiencing the park in its most frequent guise: cloaked in. moisture and hooded by snow. Moisture-laden weather systems move off the Pacific Ocean, batter the sides of Mount Rainier, and drop record-setting quantities of snow at higher elevations before drifting eastward. The huge amount of total precipitation - about 87 inches each year at Longmire and 126 inches at Paradise - shapes everything you see, from the 26 glaciers that cap the mountain to the dense stands of Douglas fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock that contribute to the old-growth forest at its base. In the subalpine parks, or meadows, on the mountain's shoulders abundant moisture blends with volcanic soils and intense summer sunlight to bring forth some of the most breath-taking wildflower meadows on Earth. - National Park Service.

Come and view some Alpine Meadows of Mount Rainier, located in the Pacific Northwest corner of the United States in the State of Washington, at Paradise Park.

bossgard:
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK

Mount Rainier, called "Tahoma" which means "the great mountain" by local Indians was established as a National Park by United States of America President Teddy Roosevelt on March 2, 1899.

Indians kept logging and mining companies away from the Mountain because it is a part of their heritage and religious beliefs. Even so, the US Government allowed a group of mineral experts to create "the Camp of the Clouds" in 1898 through 1915. The Camp of the Clouds was really used to get money from wealthy nature lovers looking for adventure.

'It was once widely believed that Indian people seldom used Mount Rainier's imposing mountain landscapes. That view began to change in the early 1960's with discovery of the park's first archaeological site - a subalpine rock shelter later found to be about 1,200 years old and containing charred goat, mountain beaver, deer, elderberry and wild hazelnut remains in association with pit features, fire cracked rock, broken projectile points, and profuse stone tool re-sharpening flakes and debris.' - National Park Service

In 1883, James Longmire established the first hotel; his advertising for "miraculous water cures" helped generate early tourism and a constituency for the creation of the National Park. Upon hiking to a high valley, Longmire's wife said "This is Paradise".

At 14,410 feet to the top of the mountain, it is one of the largest volcanoes on earth.

In 1870, Robert Stevens is known as the first person to reach the Summit of the mountain, except for maybe some Pacific Northwest Indians, but no actual records before 1870, have been recorded.
The Mountain has 4 Sides or Valleys, Paradise (between Emerald Ridge and Cowlitz Divide), Sunrise (between Cowlitz Divide and Sunrise Ridge), Carbon River (between Sunrise Ridge and Ptarmigan Ridge), Sunset Amphitheater (between Ptarmigan Ridge and Emerald Ridge), the latter accessible only by hiking. Each is a study in how different climates affect Nature. Carbon River is a temperate zone that gets a lot of rain; Sunrise is wind-whipped and gets the hot eastern sun. Paradise is moderate in weather, where life grows abundantly.

Sunset Amphitheater gets plenty of rain and lots of sunshine. All 4 areas are unique in their flora and fauna.

bossgard:
Sphagnum Bogs, Moss, Wheatgrass, and fragile subalpine meadows mix with Red Paintbrush, Glacier Lilies, Pink Mountain Heather, Fireweed, Western Basque, Phlox and Shooting Star are among the 40 types of flowers found there.

Dense Coniferous Forests surround the Mountain, while Western Red Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce, Whitebark Pine and other subalpines mixed with Elvin Timber cover the hillsides.

Animals are everywhere including Squirrels and Chipmunks, Saw Hoot Owls, Black Tailed Deer, Elk, Brown Bears, Marmots, Mountain Goats, Cougars, Tomcats. Foxes, Coyotes and Wolves make themselves very evident. Birds include Steller's jays, Clark's nutcrackers, gray jays, and ravens.
Visitors Centers are at Paradise and Sunrise. Rangers have named it "1,000 Parks in One Place".

'The authors and publishers acknowledge the use of information taken from the 'The Tahoma News', issues for 2008 and 2010, and 'Mount Rainier', current issues, which are official publications of The National Park Service, US Department of the Interior."

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