5 Fascinating Fun Facts About Mount Rainier National Park

This mountain has thrumming energy, but it is hard to properly explain the feeling you get when you experience Mount Rainier National Park. Whether you are hiking on the mountain or seeing it from afar, this volcano draws attention!

Podcast Episode Overview

In this episode of Exploring the National Parks, we’re going to dazzle you with some fun facts about Mount Rainier National Park!

We are thrilled to dive in today and share some of the fun facts that make this national park so impressive.

In this episode, we discuss:

Where this mountain ranks amongst the other mountains in the U.S.
How old this mountain really is (the answer will surprise you!)
Why Mount Rainier is considered such a hazardous volcano
Why this mountain is one of the most glaciated peaks in the Lower 48
The surprising number of climbers that actually make it to the top of Mount Rainier

These Mount Rainier National Park facts will absolutely enhance your next visit to Mount Rainier, or if you haven’t been yet, they will inspire you to put a trip to this phenomenal national park on your calendar!

We absolutely love Mount Rainier National Park, and every time we see this mountain, we feel elevated and awe-struck! We hope you get the chance to visit soon, too!

Listen to the Full Podcast Episode:

1. Mount Rainier is the third tallest mountain in the contiguous United States

At 14,411 feet, Mount Rainier is the third tallest mountain in the Lower 48 states, just short of Mount Whitney (14,498 feet) in California and Mount Elbert (14,433 feet) in Colorado. It is also the highest mountain in the Pacific Northwest and the state of Washington.

When you visit Washington, it’s hard not to notice this active volcano. It stands out from all the surrounding mountains by a colossal margin, measured by prominence. Mount Rainier’s prominence is the tallest in the contiguous United States, standing at 13,246 feet. That means the mountain starts only 1,165 feet above sea level.

Mount Rainier beats Mount Whitney’s prominence by more than 3,000 feet and Mount Elbert’s by more than 4,000 feet.

Mount Rainier’s prominence is what makes it so incredible. Everywhere you stand in the park, you feel like a tiny speck!

2. Mount Rainier is only 500,000 years old

We’ve talked a lot about other mountains on our podcast, but Mount Rainier’s rise to the top is nothing short of meteoric. Let’s compare mountain ages:

Great Smoky Mountains – 300 million years old
Sierra Nevada Mountains – 100 million years old
Rocky Mountains – 50 to 80 million years old

In geologic time, 500,000 years is nothing. Mount Rainier is a baby compared to other mountains.

Rainier is a mountain pinched between tectonic plates. As the Pacific and North American tectonic plates slammed into each other, they pushed the Farallon Plate under the North American Plate. Over time, the Farallon Plate broke in half, forming the Juan de Fuca Plate.

The Juan de Fuca Plate is still being pushed under the North American Plate off the coast of Washington state, and as it moves toward the hot center of Earth, the plate is melting. Parts of the melted plate have bubbled to the surface as magma chambers. Those magma chambers meet the surface at Mount Rainier and the Cascade Range. Mount Shasta, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, Mount Baker, and Lassen Peak are all examples of magma chambers reaching the surface from the Juan de Fuca Plate and spewing lava and ash.

Mount Rainier erupts roughly once every 500 years. The last eruption was about 1,000 years ago. Scientists monitor activity constantly to detect when the next eruption might occur.

3. Mount Rainier is considered the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range

Mount Rainier is included on an international list of volcanoes called “Decade Volcanoes.” The Decade Volcanoes are 16 volcanoes identified by an international organization, and these volcanoes need special attention and study because of their history of large, destructive eruptions and their proximity to densely populated areas.

Part of the fun of being at Mount Rainier is feeling the unbelievable power of the volcano lying in wait. While it’s scary to think about what might happen if it erupts, hiking along the base and even up onto the volcano is a one-of-a-kind experience. The high probability of eruption is a reminder of how little control humans have over nature.

Good news: Scientists heavily monitor all activity at Mount Rainier to give people living nearby the chance to evacuate. In an average month, Mount Rainier experiences one to five earthquakes. But sometimes, seismologists record “swarms” of earthquakes, where they experience five to ten earthquakes in quick succession in just a couple of days.

You can see live reports of seismic activity on the Cascades Volcano Observatory website.

4. Mount Rainier has the most glaciers of any mountain in the contiguous United States

If you want to see glaciers, go to Mount Rainier National Park instead of Glacier National Park! Mount Rainier has 28 named glaciers, making it the most glaciated peak in the contiguous United States.

It has not only the largest glacier by area in the Lower 48 but also the glacier with the lowest terminus. Emmons Glacier is the largest glacier by area, at 4.3 square miles. Carbon Glacier has the lowest terminus at 3,617 feet and is the largest glacier on Mount Rainier by volume. It’s not often you get to see a glacier surrounded by old-growth forests in the Lower 48!

Nisqually Glacier is among the most visited and studied glaciers in the park. When you visit the Paradise area of Mount Rainier, you’ll see Nisqually Glacier. Paradise is one of the best places and has some of the best hikes at Mount Rainier, which we cover in detail in our Exploring Mount Rainier podcast episode.

A not-so-fun fact: In an eruption, the ice of Rainier’s major glaciers would melt and cause massive floods in the surrounding communities. The floods would create what’s known as a lahar, a mudflow caused by a volcanic eruption. Lahars would be a fast-flowing river of mud, trees, rocks, gravel, water, and volcanic debris, rushing through the canyons and valleys and beyond, changing the entire landscape.

Scientists have been able to track lahars that occurred in the last few thousand years. Debris has reached Enumclaw, Tahoma, and the Puget Sound!

5. Only 50 percent of climbers successfully reach the summit of Mount Rainier

Ten thousand people attempt to summit Mount Rainier’s highest point at 14,411 feet every year. Even with a guiding service, 20 percent of expeditions don’t reach the summit.

Summiting Mount Rainier is not a short walk or a day trip. It’s more similar to summiting Mount Everest than many other mountain summits in the U.S. Climbers have to cross crevasses, watch for avalanches, navigate glaciers, camp in the snow, handle strong winds, avoid bad weather, and, after all that, have the energy to push through carrying all the gear needed to survive.

The first recorded ascent of Mount Rainier was in 1870 by Hazard Stevens and Philemon Van Trump. By 1950, there were 238 people a year trying to summit, and 140 made it. In 1989, about 7,500 people attempted to summit, but only 3,700 people made it. By 2018, 10,700 people were trying to make it to the summit, and only about 5,100 did. Even though people have so much better climbing technology, and there are guides taking people up there, the mountain is still in control.

If you’re not up for climbing to the summit of Mount Rainier, check out our list of things you can’t miss for Mount Rainier National Park to plan some incredible (and much easier) hikes.

Don’t forget to complete your task for this week! When you think of Mount Rainier, do you think of looming danger or an exciting adventure? Head over to the Dirt in My Shoes Facebook or Instagram page and let us know!

Links mentioned in this podcast episode:

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