Of all the fire mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.

John Muir, 1901

Following are the most important things when visiting Mt Rainier:

• Make sure weather is clear
• Make sure to stay inside the park. Paradise Inn is the best followed by National Park Inn
• Assuming you are going on a clear hot day when there will be lots of tourists, get to the gate either before 12pm or after 3pm.

It is hard to simultaneously satisfy the first two constraints – consider yourself very lucky if you happen to do so. we don’t have any control over weather but we can control where we stay – so advise to make reservation at Paradise Inn well in advance. July and August are the hottest months and best time to visit. I would recommend visiting in August over July so that most of the snow has melted. I have visited in July and there is still significant snow and flowers have not bloomed completely. However July is still not a bad time to visit.

I recently visited Mt Rainier when it was 35 degrees plus in Puget Sound. I was lucky to get a reservation on Sat morning, booked it and decided to leave spontaneously. I reached the gate at 1:50pm and had to spend more than 1.5 hours in line (more than 2 mi long). So again either arrive before 12pm or after 3pm when lines should be shorter.

Skyline Trail

The full trail is about 4.5 hours hike which is too much for me so I do the following shortcut which can be completed in 3 hours with 30 minutes time to rest and take in the views.

Panorama Point via the Skyline and Golden Gate Trails. 4 miles round-trip. 1700′ elevation gain. Average hiking time: 3 hours. The trailhead is located on the north side of the upper parking lot, next to the visitor center. Alternatively, you may take the Deadhorse Creek Trail from the north end of the lower parking lot, and intersect the Skyline Trail near Glacier Vista.