Mount Rainier National Park, a 369-sq.-mile Washington state reserve southeast of Seattle, surrounds glacier-capped, 14,410-ft. Mount Rainier. Atop 6,400-ft.-high Sunrise, the highest point in the park reachable by car, visitors can admire Rainier and other nearby volcanoes, including Mount Adams. The park’s 5,400-ft.-high Paradise overlook offers mountain views, summertime wildflower meadows and hiking trailheads.
Located 12 miles east of Longmire in Mount Rainier National Park, Paradise is aptly named, and in the summer months the meadows simply explode with wildflower blooms. There are actually two ways to explore the area. Start off at the Jackson Visitor Center, which features accessible parking and barrier-free access. Not only are there interpretive exhibits, an information desk, food service and accessible restrooms inside, but the visitor center is the perfect vantage point for a 360-degree view of Mount Rainier, the surrounding peaks, and the showy wildflower meadows.
Some power wheelchair-users may also be able to access the Skyline Trail, which is located next to the visitor center. It’s rated as “accessible with assistance” as there’s a steep section in the beginning. It’s only a 100-foot elevation gain, but it’s all in the same place. If you can make it past the first part, the paved trail is pretty level after that. Wildflower blooms peak in late July and early August, when the meadow is covered in avalanche lilies, asters, daisies and purple shooting stars.
Mount Rainier National Park was created to protect and preserve unimpaired iconic Mount Rainier, along with its natural and cultural resources, values, and dynamic processes.
The park provides opportunities for people to experience, understand, and care for the park environment, and provides for wilderness experiences and sustains wilderness values.
