A man and woman taking a selfie in front of Mount Rainier

When we started hiking and visiting National Parks, Mount Rainier felt like one of those bucket list experiences that we might not ever get to. The planning felt too overwhelming and it seemed like we would never have a long enough amount of time off to make it happen.

I have learned over the past 5 years that making any kind of plan for our future is laughable because my life and plan changes monthly if not weekly. Owning your own business is not for everyone, but it makes for one hell of a life! Not only did we make it to Mount Rainier, we have been there 2 times over the past 2 years, and to the PNW twice this past summer. We have friends that live in Bend, OR who make this possible and we have had so many adventures since they have been out there!

If you are from the East Coast like we are or don’t think you will make it back to the area for a while, we highly recommend planning a road trip to hit more than one national park, see the coast and fit in as much as possible. We did this on our first trip out and it was INCREDIBLE. Fair warning though, unless you have 2 weeks or more you will feel like you don’t have enough time at each stop and want to go back anyway. We have done a lot of traveling over the past 10 years and the Pacific North West is by far our favorite area to visit. The first time we went to the park it was late June and the weather was still pretty sketchy. The second trip we went in July and the weather was perfect, the wildflowers were blooming and the animals were active.

The closest major airport to the park is SeaTac, but you could also fly into Portland depending on what else you have planned for your trip. If you want to get the most our of your trip, fly in as early as possible, grab your rental car and head straight to your Air BnB (maybe stop for some food along the way). If you go in the summer, you can just get a normal car. The roads are all paved and easy to access, so you don’t have to worry about having a truck or SUV. We got the cutest Cabin Air Bnb outside of the Nisqually entrance and had a very easy drive to the trailhead each morning.

If you only have a few days to spend at the park I would recommend staying close to this entrance and hiking the most iconic trails the park has to offer. This area is called the Paradise corridor and a Timed Entry Pass is required to access this road from late May through early September from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. This is a separate pass from you National Park Pass and can be purchased through recreation.gov and costs $2 per day. These passes are released on a rolling basis and go FAST so make sure you are logged into the site and ready to go if you plan on going between those times. We are VERY early risers and enter the park well before the timed entry starts to avoid crowds and make sure we get parking so we have not needed to purchase a pass. Make sure to check the National Park website for specific details when planning your trip.

Before doing ANY hiking, make sure you have the AllTrails App downloaded. Although most trails are very clearly marked, it is easy to accidentally get off trail. I pay for the upgraded membership because I like to record our trails as we hike and it gives you live location data so you can see exactly where you are on the trail map at all times. When planning your trails make sure to take into consideration the difficulty (this will be noted in AllTrails) and the ability of everyone in your party. My husband and I are very active and plan our day hikes to be around 8-10 miles. You should also always read reviews the day before you go for updates on trail conditions and weather.

One of the most popular (for good reason!) trails in the park is The Skyline Loop Trail. We did this trail on our first day but combined it with a few other trails to make the most of our day. We headed into the park around 5:30am and found parking easily pretty close to the trailhead. The hikes name on AllTrails is: Lower Lakes, Wonderland, Mazama, Skyline and Dead Horse Creek Loop. It was 8.3 miles in total, but we added a little detour to see Narada Falls which made our hike 10.3 miles in total. This hike was rated hard, but I would highly recommend doing this trail if you have the time. The views were incredible, the wildflowers were blooming and we saw lots of wildlife! The park is so stunning and vibrant I felt like I was on a movie set the entire time.

If you don’t want to do a long trail like we did, consider doing a few of the shorter trails! From the same parking lot you can see the famous Myrtle Falls the Moraine Trail, and the short Nisqually Vista Trail.

On our second day in the park we hiked the Van Trump Trail with an added detour to Mildred Point. The Van Trump trail by itself is 7.2 miles out and back with incredible up close views of Comet Falls with a beautiful payoff at the top of the trail after a VERY steep ascent. If you just want to hike to the falls and back the trail is 3.5 miles. All are rated hard, but are so worth it! After turning around at the end of the Van Trump Trail we were pretty tired and almost didn’t do the hike to Mildred Point. I can not emphasize enough how thankful I am that we decided to do this full hike. After another very hard and insanely steep final leg of the trail, we walked up to a view that was so incredible it made me dizzy. We have done a lot of hiking over the past 10 years and this was by far the most beautiful and breathtaking view I have ever seen.

With only 2 days in the park we felt like we were able to get to the “must see” destinations on the Paradise side of the park. It still wasn’t enough time at all, but if you only have a few days I highly recommend those two trails! You get a great mix of views, waterfalls, peaks, valleys, overlooks and lakes. I could spend WEEKS exploring this park and hope to get back there soon to hike the other areas of the park. Getting through the park to the Sunrise area takes a few hours so we plan to stay on that side of the park on our next trip to check off more of my saved trails!

Travel

How To Spend 2 days in Mount Rainier National Park

January 10, 2025

Elyse Shaw

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