DESCRIPTION:
Mount Rainier Volcano

Rainier84_mount_rainier_and_tacoma_08-20-84.jpg
Mount Rainier and Tacoma, Washington, as seen from shore along Commencement Bay.
USGS Photograph taken on August 20, 1984, by Lyn Topinka.
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Mount Rainier

Location: Washington

Latitude: 46.87 N

Longitude: 121.758 W

Height: 4,392 Meters (14,410 Feet)

Type: Stratovolcano

Number of eruptions in the past 200 years: 1 (?) (1882)²

Latest Eruptions: About 1820(?); 1841-1843(?); 1854(?); 1879; 1882 ³.

Present thermal activity: Occasional steam explosions on upper slopes; many steam vents and hot rocks in summit area.

Remarks: History of massive debris avalanches and debris flows. Occasional very shallow seismicity ². ... A mudflow caused by steam explosions about 5,700 years ago was one of the largest known in the world. Expected to erupt again within the next few hundred years; hazards consist mainly of mudflows, floods, and fallout of tephra ³.

Mount Rainier, the highest and third most voluminous volcano in the Cascade Range, is potentially the most dangerous volcano in the range because of the large population living around its lowland drainages. These areas are at risk because of the mountain's great relief and the huge area and volume of ice and snow on the cone (92x10^6 square meters, and 4.4x10^9 cubic meters, respectively) that could generate lahars during eruptions. In addition, large (>2x10^8 cubic meters) sector collapses of clay-rich, hydrothermally altered debris from the cone have occurred at least 3 times in the last 6,000 years ( Osceola, Round Pass, and Electron mudflows.

Mount Rainier is a large stratovolcano of andesitic rock in the Cascade Range of western Washington. Although the volcano as it now stands was almost completely formed before the last major glaciation, geologic formations record a variety of events that have occurred at the volcano in postglacial time.

Mount Rainier, highest (4,392 meters - 14,410 feet) and third-most voluminous volcano in the Cascades after Mounts Shasta and Adams, dominates the Seattle-Tacoma area, where more than 1.5 million know it fondly as The Mountain. The Mountain is, however, the most dangerous volcano in the range, owing to the large population and to the huge area and volume (92x10^6 cubic meters and 4.4x10^9 cubic meters, respectively of ice and snow on its flanks that could theoretically melt to generate debris flows during cataclysmic eruptions. In addition, sector collapses of clay-rich, hydrothermally altered debris have generated at least three huge (>2x10^8 cubic meters) debris flows in the last 5,000 years. ...

Mount Rainier at 4,393 meters (14,410 feet) the highest peak in the Cascade Range is a dormant volcano whose load of glacier ice exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. This tremendous mass of rock and ice, in combination with great topographic relief, poses a variety of geologic hazards, both during inevitable future eruptions and during the intervening periods of repose.

The volcano's past behavior is the best guide to possible future hazards. The written history of Mount Rainier encompasses the period since about A.D. 1820, during which time one or two small eruptions, many small debris flows, and several small debris avalanches have occurred. This time interval is far too brief to serve as a basis for estimating the future behavior of a volcano that is several hundreds of thousands of years old. Fortunately, prehistoric deposits record the types, magnitudes, and frequencies of past events, and show which areas were affected by them. At Mount Rainier, as at other Cascade volcanoes, deposits produced since the latest ice age (approximately during the past 10,000 years) are well preserved. Studies of these deposits reveal that we should anticipate potential hazards from some phenomena that only occur during eruptions and from others that may occur without eruptive activity. Tephra falls, pyroclastic flows and pyroclastic surges, ballistic projectiles, and lava flows occur only during eruptions. Debris avalanches, debris flows, and floods commonly accompany eruptions, but can also occur during dormant periods.

Mount Rainier is an active volcano that first erupted about half a million years ago. Because of Rainier's great height (14,410 feet above sea level) and northerly location, glaciers have cut deeply into its lavas, making it appear deceptively older than it actually is. Mount Rainier is known to have erupted as recently as in the 1840s, and large eruptions took place as recently as about 1,000 and 2,300 years ago.

Mount Rainier and other similar volcanoes in the Cascade Range, such as Mount Adams and Mount Baker, erupt much less frequently than the more familiar Hawaiian volcanoes, but their eruptions are vastly more destructive. Hot lava and rock debris from Rainier's eruptions have melted snow and glacier ice and triggered debris flows (mudflows) - with a consistency of churning wet concrete - that have swept down all of the river valleys that head on the volcano. Debris flows have also formed by collapse of unstable parts of the volcano without accompanying eruptions. Some debris flows have traveled as far as the present margin of Puget Sound, and much of the lowland to the east of Tacoma and the south of Seattle is formed of pre-historic debris from Mount Rainier

Northwest American Indians knew the mountain long before European explorers reached the waters of the Pacific Ocean. For generations, they knew the mountain as Takhoma, Tahoma, Ta-co-bet and several other names. Many of the names mean "big mountain" or "snowy peak," or "place where the waters begin." Little Tahoma is the name of prominent rock outcrop on the east side of Mount Rainier. American Indians living both east and west of Mount Rainier traveled to the high mountain valleys each summer and fall to gather berries and hunt deer, goats, elk, and bear. They often camped near berry fields at altitudes between 3,000 feet and 5,000 feet. The forests and meadows around Mount Rainier were important summer hunting and gathering sites for the Nisqually, Puyallup, Upper Cowlitz, Muckleshoot, and Yakama people.

When Captain George Vancouver sailed into Puget Sound in 1792 he "discovered" a huge mountain that he named in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. Although he didn't know it, he was gazing upon a living volcano that was already known and valued by the Nisqually, Cowlitz, Yakama, Puyallup, and Muckleshoot peoples. As residents of the mountain's river valleys, they hunted and gathered berries in the forests and mountain meadows. For them, the mountain was an entity of power and presence, quite apart from the resources it offered. Those who followed also came to appreciate the dual physical and spiritual dimensions of the mountain's resources. Mount Rainier is a place where physical things -- rocks, glaciers, water, plants, and animals -- come to mean something more: beauty, challenge, renewal, stewardship, and enjoyment.

On May 8, 1792, Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy anchored his ship near today's Port Townsend, Washington. He wrote in his log, "... the round snowy mountain ... after my friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, I distinguished by the name of Mount Rainier ..."

Mount Rainier, or "Tahoma" as it was named by the Northwest Native Americans, was named after then Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, R.N. in 1792 by Captain George Vancouver.

Born in 1741, Peter Rainier entered the Royal Navy in 1756. He served on the HMS OXFORD, YARMOUTH, NORFOLK, and BURFORD. In 1790 he commanded the MONARCH and early in 1793 commissioned the SUFFOLK which had 74 guns.

In 1799 Peter Rainier was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral. He was stationed in the East Indies as Commodore and Commander-in-Chief until 1804. After his return to England and his retirement from active service, he continued to be consulted by the ministry on questions relating to the East India station. In 1805 he was advanced to the rank of Admiral. He became a member of Parliament in 1807 and died in 1808.

USS RAINIER is the third supply ship to bear the name of Mount Rainier, which is located in the state of Washington and is part of the Cascade mountain range. The mountain is a volcano born of fire and built up above the surrounding country by repeated eruptions and successive flows of lava. It is a relatively young volcano, only about one million years old. Mount Rainier is a 14,411 foot high volcanic peak along the west side of the Cascade Mountains. It is the fifth highest peak in the lower 48 states. On March 2, 1899 Mount Rainier became the fifth U.S. National Park.

On May 8, 1792, Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy anchored his ship near today's Port Townsend, Washington. He wrote in his log, "... the round snowy mountain ... after my friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, I distinguished by the name of Mount Rainier ..."

• 1792: On May 8, 1792, Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy anchored his ship near today's Port Townsend, Washington. He wrote in his log, "... the round snowy mountain ... after my friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, I distinguished by the name of Mount Rainier ..." -- information courtesy U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

• 1833: In 1833 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, medical officer and amateur botanist, then Factor of the Hudson Bay Post on the Sound, known as Nisqually House, made the first close approach to the great old volcano. "In search of fine views and rare blossoms", he approached to a vantage point just within the present northwest corner of the park. This peak was later named Tolmie Peak and the creek which flows from it to the Carbon River, Tolmie Creek. Later Dr. Tolmie was made Chief Factor of the great Hudson Bay Company. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• 1857: The Kautz Glacier, one of the primary Glacier of the mountains was named in honor of Lieutenant (later General) A.V. Kautz, of the American Army who in 1857 made the first attempt to scale the peak. Kautz climbed along the edge of the glacier which now bears his name and failed to reach the summit by only a few feet. Kautz Creek flows from the glacier and enters the Nisqually River near the Nisqually Road. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• 1870: In August 1870, Yakama guide Sluiskin led Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump to the southern slopes of Mount Rainier. Although Sluiskin refused to accompany them, Stevens and Van Trump climbed to the summit. They were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

• 1899: Congress established Mount Rainier National Park on March 2, 1899, reaffirming the nation's intent to set aside certain areas of outstanding scenic and scientific value for the enjoyment of present and future generations. It is America's fifth oldest national park, after Yellowstone (established in 1872), and Yosemite, General Grant (now part of Kings Canyon), and Sequoia (all established in 1890). -- information courtesy U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

An average of approximately 30 earthquakes occur under Mount Rainier per year, making it the most seismically active volcano in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens. Trilateration and tilt networks established on the volcano in 1982 have shown no untoward displacements.

Mount Rainier Earthquakes and Seismicity Menu

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Mount Rainier, Washington, as seen from Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park.
USGS Photograph taken in 1975 by Lyn Topinka.
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Mount Rainier rests on Tertiary volcanic rocks which were gently folded along northwest trends and then intruded by granodiorite and quartz monzonite of the Tatoosh Pluton (17.5-14.1 million years ago). Petrologic changes in clastic deposits east of the volcano indicate post-Tatoosh unroofing at the present site of Mount Rainier. An apparent 11-million-year hiatus in volcanic activity and plutonism preceded the first evidence of a proto-Mount Rainier. The Lily Formation (2.9 million to 840,000 years ago), a thick sequence of volcaniclastic debris west of the mountain, is the earliest Rainier deposit.

Early lava flows of present Mount Rainier formed a small shield on a dissected surface of the Tertiary basement which has as much as 700 meters of relief. The present edifice is dominantly lava flows and breccias, 90 percent of which are composed of a petrographically uniform two-pyroxene andesite ...

Mafic olivine-phyric basaltic andesite was erupted during the late Pleistocene from two satellite cones on the northwest flank of the mountain, Echo Rock and Observation Rock. Approximately 270 cubic kilometers of lava have been erupted from Mount Rainier in the past one million years.

A thick pumice layer northeast, east, and southeast of the volcano is interpreted to have erupted from Mount Rainier between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago. Estimates based on limited outcrops suggest this unnamed layer is an order of magnitude larger in volume than any of Rainier's Holocene tephra layers.

Holocene explosive eruptions at Rainier produced 11 tephra beds totaling over 0.5 cubic kilometers. Eight layers (30-40 percent of the tephra volume) were erupted between 6,500 and 4,000 Carbon-14 years B.P. ...

Post-glacial deposits at Mount Rainier are dominated by lahars; over 60 have been identified. Although relations between Holocene tephra and flowage deposits remain speculative, at least some lahars were probably eruption induced, most notably the Paradise lahar and the Osceola Mudflow, which has been dated at 5,040 Carbon-14 years B.P., had a volume >10^9 cubic meters, and a profound geomorphic effect on the Puget Sound shoreline, over 100 kilometers from the mountain. ... Wood from buried trees in the Round Pass Mudflow has been dated at 2,600 Carbon-14 years B.P., ... the Electron Mudflow has been dated at 530 Carbon-14 years B.P. This lahar, which evidently began as a failure of part of the western edifice, has not been correlated with any eruptive activity at Mount Rainier and may have occurred without precursory eruptive phenomena. ...

Mount Rainier, highest (4,392 meters (14,410 feet)) and third-most voluminous volcano in the Cascades after Mounts Shasta and Adams, dominates the Seattle-Tacoma area, where more than 1.5 million know it fondly as The Mountain. The Mountain is, however, the most dangerous volcano in the range, owing to the large population and to the huge area and volume (92x10^6 cubic meters and 4.4x10^9 cubic meters, respectively of ice and snow on its flanks that could theoretically melt to generate debris flows during cataclysmic eruptions. In addition, sector collapses of clay-rich, hydrothermally altered debris have generated at least three huge (>2x10^8 cubic meters) debris flows in the last 5000 years. Yet surprisingly little is known of Mount Rainier's eruptive history, composition, or age. For example, probably fewer than two dozen chemical analyses of Rainier's products have been published. Probably the dominantly nonexplosive nature of past eruptions and the challenging logistics of studying the cone contribute to the relatively limited knowledge. Outstanding work, however, has been completed on its fragmental deposits, and most of what is known about the volcano derives from this work.

Underpinnings

Mount Rainier is underlain by middle Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Ohanapecosh, Stevens Ridge, and Fifes Peaks Formations (Fiske et.al., 1963; Vance et al., 1987), described elsewhere in this guide. These rocks were gently warped along a northwest-trending system of folds and intruded by the Tatoosh pluton, chiefly granodiorite and quartz monzonite. The main body of the Tatoosh is 17.5-14.1 million years, but dikes, sills, and various volcanic deposits interpreted as forerunners to the emplacement of the pluton to its final level are as old as 26 million years, judging from U-Pb dating of zircons (Mattinson, 1977). Fiske, et.al. (1963) interpreted the Tatoosh to have "broken through to the surface" several times, giving rise to eruptions such as that which created The Palisades, a 250-meter-high cliff of 25-million-years-ago silicic welded tuff 5 kilometers northeast of Yakima Park (Mattinson, 1977).

Forerunner to Mount Rainier

No evidence has been found for magmatism near Mount Rainier between about 14 and 3 million years. The Lily Creek Formation, a thick sequence of debris flows and related volcanic deposits (Crandell, 1963a), crops out just west of the volcano and was hypothesized by Fiske et.al. (1963) to have been erupted from the Tatoosh. However, Mattinson (1977) dated the Lily Creek as no older than 2.9 million years and therefore agreed with Crandell (1963a) that it likely was formed during the earliest activity of Mount Rainier or from a center that just preceded the cone. Stratigraphic relations with glacial deposits suggest that Lily Creek volcanism began before 0.84 million years (Easterbrook, et.al., 1981; Smith, 1987). Hornblende occurs in juvenile clasts of the Lily Creek but not in rocks from Mount Rainier (Fiske, et.al., 1983). No chemical analyses have been published for the Lily Creek.

The Main Cone:

Mount Rainier was built on a rugged surface with more than 700 meters of relief eroded mainly into the Tatoosh pluton and the Stevens Ridge Formation. Early andesite flows from the volcano, undated but presumably several hundred thousand years old, were channeled along deep canyons, some of which were oblique to the present radial drainage pattern. The eruptions were apparently frequent, because in places one flow rests on the undissected surface of its predecessor. Laharic deposits and till locally occur between the early flows. Eventually the flows stacked up to form a mound near the main vent that became the foundation of the present cone.

Most of Mount Rainier's cone was built by hundreds of thin lava flows interbedded with breccia and minor tephra. The flows are rarely more than 15 meters thick high on the cone, where they drained down the steep slopes. They thicken near the base, and flows more than 60 meters thick occur on the apron around the cone. Some flows entered canyons radial to the volcano. Much breccia on the cone was probably derived from moving flows, but some probably reflects explosions and lahars. Radial dikes are prominent in places; possibly they fed some of the flows. The flows and dikes are petrographically uniform two-pyroxene andesite; the few chemical analyses available are medium-K silicic andesite, with three analyses marginally dacitic. The flows and breccia eventually built a cone standing 2,100-2,400 meters above its surroundings before the end of the latest major glaciation about 10 thousand years ago.

A thick pumice layer northeast, east, and southeast of the volcano may have been erupted from Mount Rainier between 70 and 30 thousand years ago. Estimates from limited outcrops suggest it is an order of magnitude more voluminous than any of the volcano's Holocene tephra layers.

Two late Pleistocene vents, Echo Rock and Observation Rock, erupted olivine-phyric basaltic andesite near the northwest base of the cone after Mount Rainier was almost fully grown. The basaltic andesite is more mafic than the cone-building flows.

Smith (1987) estimates that about 270 cubic kilometers of lava was erupted from Mount Rainier in the last 1 million years.

Postglacial Eruptive History:

Eleven tephra layers record evidence of Holocene explosive volcanism at Mount Rainier (Mullineaux, 1974). Eight of the tephras fell between 6500 and 4000 carbon-14 years B.P (before present). Only one tephra-producing eruption, between about 1820 and 1854 A.D., is known from the last 2,200 years; it was very small and left a scanty deposit that could easily be overlooked if it were older. Chemical analyses indicate that layer D is basaltic andesite and layers L and C are silicic andesite.

[Table,14K,InlineGIF] Table 1: Holocene tephras from Mount Rainier. From: Mullineaux, 1974

The tephra layers rich in lithic fragments are probably products of phreatic or phreatomagmatic eruptions. Layer F contains 5 to 25% clay-sized material, as much as 80 percent of which locally consists of clay minerals, chiefly montmorillonite, that was derived from altered rocks within Mount Rainier. Layer F and the Osceola debris flow have similar clay contents and ages, and are likely correlative. However, layer F has not been found on the Osceola and so could be slightly older.

Layer C, the most widespread and voluminous of the Mount Rainier tephras, covers the east half of the National Park with 2-30 centimeters of lapilli, block, and bombs. Overall it is the coarsest of the tephras, with 25-30-centimeter bombs 8 kilometers from the summit. A block-and-ash flow in the South Puyallup valley west of the volcano contains blocks emplaced above the Curie isotherm and charcoal dated at 2350 +/- 250 carbon-14 years. Its age and lithologic similarity suggest correlation with layer C.

Isopachs and isopleths for layer C indicate an origin at the summit of Mount Rainier, yet the layer does not occur on snow-free parts of Columbia crest cone, a young andesite cone standing 250 meters above the former summit of the volcano. Columbia Crest cone is therefore younger than about 2200 years. Crandell (1971) found numerous lahars and flood deposits in valleys surrounding the mountain that postdate layer C but predate layer Wn (1480 A.D.) from Mount St. Helens; some of the flowage deposits have carbon-14 ages older than 1000 years B.P. The eruptions that formed Columbia Crest cone likely produced some of those deposits. If so, the layer-C explosions might have initiated activity that formed Columbia Crest, and the cone would be about 2000 years old.

Crandell (1971) identified more than 55 lahars and debris flows of Holocene age from Mount Rainier. At least some were probably associated with eruptions, most notably the Paradise lahar (possibly associated with tephra layers A, L, or D) and the Osceola debris flow (layer F). The Osceola is described in the road log for Mount Rainier (see below). In general, Crandell (1971) associates lahars that lack much clay at Mount Rainier with magmatic eruptions, and those that contain much clay with phreatic or phreatomagmatic eruptions or with collapses of the hydrothermally altered edifice. Glacier-outburst floods from Little Tahoma Glacier, typically in late afternoon of warm days or after heavy rain, repeatedly scoured Tahoma Creek in the late 1960's and the middle and late 1980's. Outburst floods frequently modified many other drainages, most notably Kautz Creek and Nisqually River, during historical time.

About 20 small earthquakes occur yearly at Mount Rainier, more than at other composite cones in the Cascades except Mount St. Helens (Malone and Swanson, 1986). Trilateration and tilt networks established in 1982 indicate no definite deformation. Seven significant thermal areas above 3350 m on the volcano, including one at the summit, reflect "a narrow, central hydrothermal system ... forming steam-heated snowmelt at the summit craters and localized leakage of steam-heated fluids within 2 kilometers of the summit" (Frank, 1985).

When did Mount Rainier erupt last? The most recent pumice eruption was just a little over a century ago. However, between 1820 and 1894, observers reported at least 14 eruptions. Some of these may have been just large dust clouds, caused by rockfalls, that were mistaken for clouds of newly erupted ash. Other clouds may have been from genuine eruptions that left no recognizable deposits. D.R. Mullineaux has found that at least one eruption of that era did spread pumice over an area east of the volcano between Burroughs Mountain and Indian Bar to a distance of at least 6 miles from the crater. Pieces of the pumice, layer X, are light brownish gray and as large as 2 inches across. We find only scattered fragments of the pumice, and nowhere are they in a continuous layer. Where the X pumice is directly on top of layer C, we cannot tell them apart. The best areas for us to study the younger pumice, therefore, are glacial moraines formed within the last 150 years, because no pumice other than layer X is present on the moraines. Fortunately, R. S. Sigafoos and E. L. Hendricks of the U.S. Geological Survey have determined the ages of the moraines by counting the growth rings of trees on them. Their studies show that the pumice was erupted between about 1820 and 1854.

Captain John Fremont, an early explorer of the Oregon Territory, recorded that Mount Rainier was erupting in November 1843, but his journals give no details. Others have reported eruptions in 1820, 1846, 1854, and 1858. Pumice layer X probably was erupted during one or more of these times, but we do not know exactly when.

(Webnote: Also see more recent writings)

Evidence that Mount Rainier is an Active Volcano:

Anyone who has climbed to the summit of Mount Rainier will have seen evidence that the volcano remains active and will erupt again. The summit is capped by two craters, each about 0.4 kilometer (0.25 mile) across. The crater to the west is the older and is overlapped by the east summit crater, which is a nearly perfect circle of outward sloping lava, uninterrupted or breached by the large glaciers that begin near the summit. If this were an old, extinct volcano, the glaciers would have carved pieces out of the craters. Moreover, steam and warm mist emanate from areas along the inner walls of both craters and have melted a complex of caves into the ice that fills the crater floors. From the first ascent of Mount Rainier in 1870, climbers have sheltered in these caves, steamed on one side, and frozen on the other. The steam is evidence that Mount Rainier is still receiving heat from below. Besides these qualitative observations, age measurements of lavas and ashes from Mount Rainier show that the last lava erupted close to 2,200 years ago, and that pyroclastic flows erupted as recently as 1,100 years ago. Small amounts of ash and pumice erupted from Mount Rainier as recently as the 19th century. Minor pumice was deposited between A.D. 1820 and 1850 and there are reports of an observed ash eruption in late November and December of 1894. The truth of the 1894 accounts has been questioned, and no physical evidence (ash, pumice) has been found to corroborate an eruption. Nevertheless, many of the descriptions match the behavior of small ash clouds produced by very minor eruptions of other volcanoes, and it is likely that Mount Rainier did erupt in 1894 as reported. Mount Rainier has been active for the last 500,000 years; so the 2,200-year interval since the last known lava eruption is less than half a percent of the lifespan of the volcano. The style of volcanic activity remains the same, with no evidence of diminution. For these reasons, Mount Rainier is considered to be an active volcano, and another eruption could begin with little warning.

Mount Rainier Eruptive History Menu

Glaciers are among the most conspicuous and dynamic geologic features on Mount Rainier in Washington State. They erode the volcanic cone and are important sources of streamflow for several rivers, including some that provide water for hydroelectric power and irrigation. Together with perennial snow patches, glaciers cover about 36 square miles of the mountain's surface, about nine percent of the total park area, and have a volume of about 1 cubic mile.

Mount Rainier Glaciers and Glaciations Menu

Post-glacial deposits at Mount Rainier are dominated by lahars; over 60 have been identified. Although relations between Holocene tephra and flowage deposits remain speculative, at least some lahars were probably eruption induced, most notably the Paradise lahar and the Osceola Mudflow, which has been dated at 5,040 Carbon-14 years B.P., had a volume >10^9 cubic meters, and a profound geomorphic effect on the Puget Sound shoreline, over 100 kilometers from the mountain. ... Wood from buried trees in the Round Pass Mudflow has been dated at 2,600 Carbon-14 years B.P., ... the Electron Mudflow has been dated at 530 Carbon-14 years B.P. This lahar, which evidently began as a failure of part of the western edifice, has not been correlated with any eruptive activity at Mount Rainier and may have occurred without precursory eruptive phenomena. ...

Mount Rainier Historical Mudflows Menu

Seven significant thermal areas above 3,350 meters on the volcano, including one at the summit, reflect "a narrow, central hydrothermal system ... forming steam-heated snowmelt at the summit craters and localized leakage of steam-heated fluids within 2 kilometers of the summit" (Frank, 1985).

Studies of the Rainier hydrothermal system indicate that a narrow, central thermal system perpetuates snow-free areas at the summit craters and forms caves in the summit icecap. Heat flux is substantial in comparison to other volcanoes in the Cascade Range.

Active fumaroles were recognized at the summit of Mount Rainier at the time of the first authenticated climb to the top of the volcano in 1870, and the lavas of the summit cone have locally been hydrothermally altered to a loose, sandy, clay-bearing material. ... The evidence now available clearly indicates that all the large clayey lahars at Mount Rainier were derived from areas of hydrothermally altered rock on the volcano.

Mount Rainier volcano dominates the landscape of a large part of western Washington. It stands nearly 3 miles higher than the lowlands to the west and 1.5 miles higher than the surrounding mountains. The base of the volcano spreads over an area of about 100 square miles, and lava flows that radiate from the base of the cone extend to distances of as much as 9 miles. The flanks of Mount Rainier are drained by five major rivers and their tributaries. Clockwise from the northwest the major rivers are the Carbon, White, Cowlitz, Nisqually, and Puyallup. Each river flows westerly through the Cascade Range and, with the exception of the Cowlitz, empties into Puget Sound near Tacoma, Washington. The Cowlitz joins the Columbia River in the southwestern part of the State to flow to the Pacific Ocean.

Each major river in Mount Rainier National Park occupies a deep canyon whose floor is 1,000-3,000 feet below the adjacent divides. Valley-floor gradients are 100-400 feet per mile near the park boundaries and increase markedly upstream. The valley floors of Tahoma Creek, the North and South Puyallup Rivers, and the Mowich River have gradients of 700-800 feet per mile in their upper reaches and are among the steepest in the park. The volcano's summit towers 9,000-11,000 feet above valley floors only 3-6 miles away. The flanks of the volcano itself have slopes mostly between 25 degrees and 30 degrees, although those of Willis Wall on the north side are between 40 degrees and 45 degrees.

Partly because of its position astride a high, dissected part of the Cascade Range, Mount Rainier does not have broad peripheral aprons of laharic and fluvial deposits like those fringing the base of Mount Shasta in northern California and some large stratovolcanoes elsewhere. Instead, large lahars originating on the volcano in Quaternary time repeatedly flowed far down the canyons of the Cascade Range, and some came to rest beyond the mountain front in parts of the adjoining Puget Sound lowland.

Mount Rainier River Drainages Menu

By far the largest flow in the history of Mount Rainier is the Osceola Mudflow. About 5,000 years ago, a huge landslide removed 3 cubic kilometers (0.7 cubic miles) from the summit of Mount Rainier. (The landslide removed the top 600 meters (2,000 feet), leaving a summit crater. Subsequent volcanic eruptions created the modern summit cone with the crater.)

The summit lava cone is most clearly recognized from the northeast (Sunrise), where it floors the large Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers that slope smoothly up to Rainier's summit. Broad lobes on the glaciers' surfaces show the locations of the youngest lavas from Rainier's summit, now buried under hundreds of feet of ice. The summit itself is formed of two small overlapping craters, each about a quarter mile in diameter; the younger of these forms a nearly perfect circle of radially-outward-sloping lavas. The shallow floors of these craters are filled with snow and ice, but the raised rims are snow-free year-round because of high winds and because much of the ground is still hot. Steam or warm mist, at or just below boiling temperature, rises from the crater rims in many areas and has melted an intricate system of caves into the base of the crater-filling ice. On calm days, a faint odor of sulfur can also be smelled. The hot ground, steam, and sulfur smell, as well as the little-eroded shape of the summit craters attest to Rainier's recent activity.

Today there are three distinct summits, or high points, at the top of Mount Rainier. The lower two, Liberty Cap and Point Success, are remnants of the sides of an old, higher cone. The third and highest summit, Columbia Crest (14,410 feet) lies in the rim of a small recent lava cone. This cone is indented by two craters, the larger of which is about 1/4 mile in diameter. Both craters are nearly filled with snow and ice, into which a system of tunnels and caves are melted by volcanic heat and steam.

Between 1980 and 1984, the U.S. Geological Survey's David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) established baseline geodetic networks at Mount Baker, Mount Rainer, and Mount St. Helens in Washington, Mount Hood and Crater Lake in Oregon, and Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California. To this list of potentially active volcanoes, CVO extended its monitoring program in 1985 to include Newberry and South Sister volcanoes in central Oregon. The Newberry and South Sister networks were re-measured in 1986 and will be measured periodically in future years. Improvements since 1984 in the recording of endpoint and flightline temperatures resulted in better overall data than obtained previously. The improvements included: calibration of all the sensors and precision thermistors, installation of a new recording system for flightline data, and recording of endpoint temperatures 6 meters above ground level. The data collected in 1985 and 1986 indicate little or no apparent deformation at either volcano between surveys.

In addition to locating regional earthquakes, the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN), in cooperation with the Cascades Volcano Observatory, is also responsible for monitoring seismic activity at volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest. The PNSN currently operates seismometers on or near Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood, Mount Baker, Three Sisters, and Crater Lake.

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In 1833, Dr. Tolmie explored the area looking for medicinal plants. He was followed by other explorers seeking challenge. Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump received a hero's welcome in the streets of Olympia after their successful summit climb in 1870. John Muir climbed Mount Rainier in 1888, and although he enjoyed the view, he conceded that it was best appreciated from below. Muir was one of many who advocated protecting the mountain. In 1893, the area was set aside as part of the Pacific Forest Reserve in order to protect its physical/economic resources: timber and watersheds.

The establishment of the Pacific Forest Reserve was an important step in protecting the area, but preservationists saw Mount Rainier as more than just timber and water. They advocated creation of a national park that would also protect scenery and provide for public enjoyment. Railroads and local businesses urged the creation of a national park in hopes of increased tourism. On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley established Mount Rainier as America's 5th national park. Congress dedicated the new park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and...for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition."

Mount Rainier National Park was established on March 2, 1899, and encompasses 235,625 acres, ranging in elevation from 1,610 feet to 14,410 feet above sea level. The "mountain" is an active volcano encased in over 35 square miles of snow and ice, surrounded by old growth forest and stunning wildflower meadows. The park is also rich in cultural resources and was designated a National Historic Landmark District as an outstanding example of early park planning and NPS rustic architecture.

Mount Rainier National Park is located in west-central Washington, approximately 108 kilometers (68 miles) south-southeast of Seattle and 150 kilometers (95 miles) north-northeast of Portland, Oregon. The south entrance is accessible year round from U.S. Highway 12 and State Highways 7 and 706, while the northeast entrance is accessible on a seasonal basis via State Highway 410.

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[Map,29K,InlineGIF]
Mount Rainier Vicinity with Select Place Names

Camp Hazard

• Kautz Glacier is immediately to the southwest of Nisqually Glacier ... The accumulation area of Kautz Glacier stretches very nearly to the summit. Numerous gigantic icicles hang from the cliffs above the glacier as evidence of the cooler temperatures at that altitude. At 11,600 feet elevation, the ice divides, as if driven against a wedge. Located below the ice cliffs is the climber's Camp Hazard, named after climber Joseph Hazard. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1986

Camp Muir

• A stone shelter cabin at the ten thousand feet level on the summit trail was named in honor of John Muir, great old man of the Sierras who climbed the mountain in 1888 and suggested the location of the over-night camp, which now bears his name. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Carbon Glacier

• The Carbon Glacier is the third largest glacier by area on Mount Rainier (3.1 square miles), yet it has the greatest measured thickness (700 feet), glacial volume (0.2 cubic miles), and length (5.7 miles). It's 3,500-feet-altitude terminus is the lowest of any glacier in the contiguous United States, and it's head is just below the imposing 4,000-foot-high Willis Wall. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1986

• Carbon Glacier has the greatest measured thickness (700 feet) and volume (0.2 cubic miles) of any glacier in the contiguous United States. It is best viewed via an easy 4 mile trail from Ipsut Creek Campground on the north side of Mount Rainier. The glacier has retreated less than 0.6 miles since the Little Ice Age. The glacier terminus is at a relatively low elevation and is surrounded by mature forest and shrubbery. During the advance of this heavily debris- laden glacier in the late 1970's, visitors watched vegetation being crushed by rocks rolling off the advancing terminus. Currently, the Carbon Glacier terminus is undergoing a minor retreat. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1993, USGS Open-File Report 92-474

• Longest and thickest glacier on Mount Rainier: Carbon Glacier, 5.7 miles long and 700 feet thick. Its 3500 foot elevation terminus is the lowers of any glacier in the United States. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

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Columbia Crest

• Today there are three distinct summits, or high points, at the top of Mount Rainier. The lower two, Liberty Cap and Point Success, are remnants of the sides of an old, higher cone. The third and highest summit, Columbia Crest (14,410 feet) lies in the rim of a small recent lava cone. This cone is indented by two craters, the larger of which is about 1/4 mile in diameter. Both craters are nearly filled with snow and ice, into which a system of tunnels and caves are melted by volcanic heat and steam. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Monument Website, 2002

• The summit lava cone is most clearly recognized from the northeast (Sunrise), where it floors the large Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers that slope smoothly up to Rainier's summit. Broad lobes on the glaciers' surfaces show the locations of the youngest lavas from Rainier's summit, now buried under hundreds of feet of ice. The summit itself is formed of two small overlapping craters, each about a quarter mile in diameter; the younger of these forms a nearly perfect circle of radially-outward-sloping lavas. The shallow floors of these craters are filled with snow and ice, but the raised rims are snow-free year-round because of high winds and because much of the ground is still hot. Steam or warm mist, at or just below boiling temperature, rises from the crater rims in many areas and has melted an intricate system of caves into the base of the crater-filling ice. On calm days, a faint odor of sulfur can also be smelled. The hot ground, steam, and sulfur smell, as well as the little-eroded shape of the summit craters attest to Rainier's recent activity. -- Excerpt from: Sisson, 1995, History and Hazards of Mount Rainier, Washington: USGS Open-File Report 95-642

• Columbia Crest, the 250-m-high summit cone, is younger than 2,300-yr-old layer C because that tephra unit does not occur on its snow-free parts. From: Pringle and Scott, 2001, Postglacial Influence of Volcanism on the Landscape and Environmental History of the Puget Lowland, Washington, From Mullineaux, 1974.

Cowlitz Glacier

• Cowlitz-lngraham Glacier is best seen from the upper slopes of the mountain, either from Cowlitz Rocks (above Paradise Glacier) or from the summit climbing route by way of Camp Muir. At its farthest extent perhaps more than 35,000 years ago, the Cowlitz-Ingraham Glacier terminated approximately 65 miles downvalley of the mountain near the town of Mossyrock, Washington. The Cowlitz-lngraham Glacier made a notable advance in the mid-1970's and continued to advance slowly until the mid-1980's. It is currently thinning and retreating. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1993, USGS Open-File Report 92-474

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Echo Rock

• Observation Rock and Echo Rock are dissected satellitic volcanoes, which erupted olivine andesite upon Mount Rainier's northwestern flank late in its history. -- Excerpt from: Fisk, 1963, Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington: USGS Professional Paper 444

• Two late Pleistocene vents, Echo Rock and Observation Rock, erupted olivine-phyric basaltic andesite near the northwest base of the cone after Mount Rainier was almost fully grown. The basaltic andesite is more mafic than the cone-building flows. -- Excerpt from: Swanson et.al., 1989, IGC Field Trip T106: Cenozoic Volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon: American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106, p.21-24.

Emmons Glacier

• Emmons Vista presents a sense of the immensity of the volcano. A mantle of ice shrouds the great dome of the Mountain. Here you can see the largest glacier in the contiguous United States, the Emmons Glacier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• The Emmons, Nisqually, Tahoma, Winthrop, and Ingraham glaciers originate on the summit of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• The largest glacier on the mountain, and the source of the White River. Named in honor of Samuel F. Emmons the noted geologist, explorer, and mountaineer who was the second to reach the summit of the mountain in 1870. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• Emmons Glacier, on the east slope of Mount Rainier, has a surface area of 4.3 square miles, the largest area of any glacier in the contiguous United States. For a closer look, hike the 1-mile trail from White River Campground to the crest of the lateral moraine. In 1963, a rockfall from Little Tahoma Peak covered the lower glacier with rock debris. The debris cover insulates the ice from melting. As a result of decreased melting, the glacier advanced rapidly in the early 1980's. That advance continues today, but at a slower rate. Ice beneath the rock debris is melting irregularly and forming a vast hummocky area. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1993, USGS Open-File Report 92-474

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Gibralter Rock

Ingraham Glacier

• Cowlitz-lngraham Glacier is best seen from the upper slopes of the mountain, either from Cowlitz Rocks (above Paradise Glacier) or from the summit climbing route by way of Camp Muir. At its farthest extent perhaps more than 35,000 years ago, the Cowlitz-Ingraham Glacier terminated approximately 65 miles downvalley of the mountain near the town of Mossyrock, Washington. The Cowlitz-lngraham Glacier made a notable advance in the mid-1970's and continued to advance slowly until the mid-1980's. It is currently thinning and retreating. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1993, USGS Open-File Report 92-474

• The Emmons, Nisqually, Tahoma, Winthrop, and Ingraham glaciers originate on the summit of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• The upper branch of the Cowlitz Glacier which joins the Cowlitz below Gibraltar Rock. Named after Maj. E.S. Ingraham of Seattle, who spent a great deal of his time in exploring the mountain and in making its scenic attractions known to others. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

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Kautz Glacier - Kautz Creek

• The Kautz Glacier, one of the primary Glacier of the mountains was named in honor of Lieutenant (later General) A.V. Kautz, of the American Army who in 1857 made the first attempt to scale the peak. Kautz climbed along the edge of the glacier which now bears his name and failed to reach the summit by only a few feet. Kautz Creek flows from the glacier and enters the Nisqually River near the Nisqually Road. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

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Indian Henry's Hunting Ground

• A beautiful alpine park on the southwest slope of the mountain which was, a generation ago, a favorite camping ground of an old Cowlitz Indian by the name of Satolick. To the white men "Satalic" was unnecessarily difficult to pronounce so "Indian Henry" was substituted and the region became known as Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Liberty Cap

• Today there are three distinct summits, or high points, at the top of Mount Rainier. The lower two, Liberty Cap and Point Success, are remnants of the sides of an old, higher cone. The third and highest summit, Columbia Crest (14,410 feet) lies in the rim of a small recent lava cone. This cone is indented by two craters, the larger of which is about 1/4 mile in diameter. Both craters are nearly filled with snow and ice, into which a system of tunnels and caves are melted by volcanic heat and steam. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Monument Website, 2002

Little Tahoma

• Northwest American Indians knew the mountain long before European explorers reached the waters of the Pacific Ocean. For generations, they knew the mountain as Takhoma, Tahoma, Ta-co-bet and several other names. Many of the names mean "big mountain" or "snowy peak," or "place where the waters begin." Little Tahoma is the name of prominent rock outcrop on the east side of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

Longmire Springs - Longmire Inn

• In 1883 James Longmire a real pioneer of the old school blazed a trail up the Nisqually River and located a mineral claim at the very foot of the mountain. This became known as Longmire Springs because of the numerous mineral springs found on the Longmire claim. Later hotels were built here and it is now the Administrative Headquarters of the Park and the site of National Park Inn. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• The cluster of historically and architecturally significant structures at Longmire Village is recognized as the Longmire Historic Developed Area. The entire park is designated as a National Historic Landmark District because it protects one of the best collections of Rustic architecture in the national park system. Three structures at Longmire, the Administration Building, Community Building, and the Service Station, are designated as Historic Landmarks for their distinct architectural qualities reflecting the Rustic Style. These structures remain intact from the era of park facility development and "master planning" efforts in the 1920s and 1930s. The concept that structures should harmonize with their natural surroundings was adapted by the National Park Service for the western parks. This Rustic Style was implemented at Mount Rainier National Park by incorporating natural raw materials and color schemes found in the native landscape into the structures. Log framing, rough wood siding, cedar shake or shingle roofs, massive boulder foundations, and stone chimneys aesthetically tie structures to the awesome mountain and forest landscape. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

McClure Rock

• A prominent point on the southern shoulder of the mountain near the summit trail which was named in memory of Professor McClure of the University of Oregon who in making some scientific studies on the mountain fell and lost his life at this point. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Nisqually Glacier

• Nisqually Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers on Mount Rainier. It can be viewed readily from Nisqually and Glacier Vistas located less than 1-mile from Paradise visitor facilities. Nisqually Glacier advanced and retreated three times between 1965 and 1992. The most recent period of retreat occurred between 1985 and 1991 during which time the glacier thinned by 52 feet in the region immediately west of Glacier Vista. The retreat that has been occurring since the late 1980's may be slowing. Excerpt from: -- Driedger 1993

• The Emmons, Nisqually, Tahoma, Winthrop, and Ingraham glaciers originate on the summit of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• Fastest measured movement downhill for a Mount Rainier glacier: Nisqually Glacier, 29 inches per day -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

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Observation Rock

• Observation Rock and Echo Rock are dissected satellitic volcanoes, which erupted olivine andesite upon Mount Rainier's northwestern flank late in its history. -- Excerpt from: Fisk, 1963, Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington: USGS Professional Paper 444

• Two late Pleistocene vents, Echo Rock and Observation Rock, erupted olivine-phyric basaltic andesite near the northwest base of the cone after Mount Rainier was almost fully grown. The basaltic andesite is more mafic than the cone-building flows. -- Excerpt from: Swanson et.al., 1989, IGC Field Trip T106: Cenozoic Volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon: American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106, p.21-24.

Paradise Glacier - Paradise Inn

• When visitors of 75 years ago came to the park, one of the main attractions was the Paradise Glacier area. On old maps the "Stevens Glacier" was a lobe of the Paradise. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1986, A Visitor's Guide to Mount Rainier Glaciers: Pacific Northwest National Parks and Forests Association

• The Paradise Inn was designed by Tacoma architect Frederick Heath. The building comprised three main wings, each one featuring steep, gable roofs and a row of dormer windows in the upper story. In the popular style of the period, the building's large timber frame remained exposed on the interior. A guest standing in the cavernous assembly room on the ground floor could look straight up to the ridge pole three stories overhead. Park Supervisor Dewitt L. Reaburn gave permission to cut dead Alaska cedars from the "silver forest" for the interior decor of the building. This timber, located on the road between Longmire Springs and Paradise, had been fire-killed several years before the establishment of the park and had seasoned to a ghostly light-grey or silver hue. The use of this timber was in keeping with the service policy of using native building materials whenever possible. The great, silver logs were the inn's most appealing feature. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• The Paradise Inn opened for business in 1917 with only thirty-seven available guest rooms and a dining room capacity for four hundred guests. The plan was to build more guest rooms as demand increased and the company grew. This turned out to be a sound approach, because during the first two seasons of operation the nation was engaged in World War I and travel to the national parks was somewhat depressed. The federal government placed restrictions on railroad passenger traffic, which reduced the number of visitors to the national parks. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• At the end of 1919, following the Paradise Inn's first peacetime tourist season, the Rainier National Park Company's stockholders finally had reason to rejoice. The inn had been filled to capacity through most of the season ... The directors decided to build their first addition to Paradise Inn, a 104-room wing which they called the annex. ... This first stage of expansion of the inn was completed by the end of 1920. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

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Point Success

• Today there are three distinct summits, or high points, at the top of Mount Rainier. The lower two, Liberty Cap and Point Success, are remnants of the sides of an old, higher cone. The third and highest summit, Columbia Crest (14,410 feet) lies in the rim of a small recent lava cone. This cone is indented by two craters, the larger of which is about 1/4 mile in diameter. Both craters are nearly filled with snow and ice, into which a system of tunnels and caves are melted by volcanic heat and steam. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Monument Website, 2002

• Sunset Amphitheater and Point Success both expose thick layers of lava and pyroclastic debris ... The South Tahoma Glacier descends from the base of Point Success and Puyallup Glacier descends from Sunset Amphitheater. The white band cutting across the middle of the amphitheater is a layer of pumice about 35 m thick. Sunset Amphitheater is the source for at least two large landslides in the past 3,000 years, including that which generated the Electron lahar about 500 years ago. -- Excerpt from: Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) Website, 2007

Ptarmigan Ridge

• Thick intracanyon flows, the earliest Mount Rainier lavas exposed, provide striking evidence of the ruggedness of that surface. Some flows are banked against ancient canyon walls as precipitous as any of those one can see in the park today. Others filled canyons to depths of 2,000 feet, but the original walls of these canyons have long since been removed by erosion. One immense flow, making up the bulk of Ptarmigan Ridge, is at least 1,200 feet thick. Such thick flows could not have spread upon a surface of low relief; they were confined in canyons. -- Excerpt from: Fisk, 1963, Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington: USGS Professional Paper 444

Russell Glacier

• One of the largest inter-glaciers of the park is a tributary to the Carbon Glacier on the north side. It was named after Professor Israel C. Russell, the first scientists to describe the glaciers of the park. Professor Russell was a great authority on glaciers and volcanoes having studied and written about most of those in North America. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

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Sluiskin Falls

• From Bear Prairie, over the Tatoosh Range and up Mazama Ridge to the edge of the Paradise Glacier, Stevens and Van Trump were guided by a Yakima Indian Brave, Sluiskin by name. Here Sluiskin refused to go farther as to do so was to his mind suicide. General Stevens named the falls at the head of the Paradise River near their base camp after the Indian Sluiskin. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• In August 1870, Yakama guide Sluiskin led Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump to the southern slopes of Mount Rainier. Although Sluiskin refused to accompany them, Stevens and Van Trump climbed to the summit. They were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

Stevens Glacier - Stevens Canyon - Stevens Ridge

• In August 1870, Yakama guide Sluiskin led Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump to the southern slopes of Mount Rainier. Although Sluiskin refused to accompany them, Stevens and Van Trump climbed to the summit. They were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

Sunrise

Sunset Amphitheatre

• The Puyallup Glacier originates high on the mountain in Sunset Amphitheatre, a cirque-like gouge near the summit. The wall of Sunset Amphitheatre, chiseled and dredged by rockslides, glacial erosion, and frost action, looks spectacular through binoculars. One theory suggests that the Electron Mudflow resulted from a cliff collapse to form this grandiose cirque. Deposits of that flow, which occurred about 500 years ago, inundated at least 14 square miles of Puget Sound Lowland, and formed the valley surface around Orting, Washington. -- Excerpt from: Driedger, 1986, and Scott and Vallance, 1993

• Sunset Amphitheater and Point Success both expose thick layers of lava and pyroclastic debris ... The South Tahoma Glacier descends from the base of Point Success and Puyallup Glacier descends from Sunset Amphitheater. The white band cutting across the middle of the amphitheater is a layer of pumice about 35 m thick. Sunset Amphitheater is the source for at least two large landslides in the past 3,000 years, including that which generated the Electron lahar about 500 years ago. -- Excerpt from: Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) Website, 2007

Tahoma Glacier

• The Emmons, Nisqually, Tahoma, Winthrop, and Ingraham glaciers originate on the summit of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

The Palisades

• At the northwestern corner of White River Park a great cliff of columnar jointed black rock, known as The Palisades, rises abruptly from the headwaters of Lost Creek. The rock in the cliff is a rhyodacite welded tuff, as much as 800 feet thick, which rests upon and grades into an underlying plug of rhyodacite. The welded tuff extends south from The Palisades, forming an irregular-topped plateau about a mile long and half a mile wide, rimmed by striking cliffs, 50 to 500 feet high, carved from joint columns more than 100 feet long. -- Excerpt from: Fisk, 1963, Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington: USGS Professional Paper 444

Tolmie Peak - Tolmie Creek

• In 1833 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, medical officer and amateur botanist, then Factor of the Hudson Bay Post on the Sound, known as Nisqually House, made the first close approach to the great old volcano. "In search of fine views and rare blossoms", he approached to a vantage point just within the present northwest corner of the park. This peak was later named Tolmie Peak and the creek which flows from it to the Carbon River, Tolmie Creek. Later Dr. Tolmie was made Chief Factor of the great Hudson Bay Company. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Van Trump Glacier - Van Trump Creek - Van Trump Park

• Flowing down from the Van Trump Glacier on the southern slope of the mountain, Van Trump Creek flows through a beautiful alpine meadow famous for its wild flower and animal life, which is known as Van Trump Park in honor of that intrepid mountaineer, Mr. P.B. Van Trump who with General Hazard Stevens made the first successful ascent of the old mountain in August, 1870. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

• In August 1870, Yakama guide Sluiskin led Hazard Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump to the southern slopes of Mount Rainier. Although Sluiskin refused to accompany them, Stevens and Van Trump climbed to the summit. They were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park Website, 2002

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Wapowety Cleaver

• A ridge of rock between the Kautz and the Wilson Glaciers up which Lt. Kautz climbed in 1857 was named for Kautz's Indian guide Wapowety. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Willis Wall

• An almost sheer wall of lava some 3,600 feet high which forms the rear wall of the cirque of the Carbon Glacier was named in honor of the well known geologist of California, Bailey Willis, who explored the north side of the mountain and blazed the first trail to the Carbon Glacier in 1881. Professor Bailey Willis was also influential in securing the passage of the bill which created Mount Rainier National Park. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

Wilson Glacier

• Tributary glacier to the Nisqually on the south side of the mountain. It was named in honor of Mr. A.D. Wilson who in 1870 made the second successful ascent of the mountain with Professor S.F. Emmons. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

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Winthrop Glacier

• The Winthrop Glacier is the second largest glacier on Mount Rainier, with an area of 3.5 square miles. It extends from the summit to the 4,700-feet level of the West Fork White River valley. -- Excerpt form: Driedger, 1986

• The Emmons, Nisqually, Tahoma, Winthrop, and Ingraham glaciers originate on the summit of Mount Rainier. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002

• Named for Theodore Winthrop who visited the mountain in 1853 and described his experiences so delightfully in his book "Canoe and Saddle". Winthrop died on the field of battle during the Civil War. -- Excerpt from: U.S. National Park Service, Mount Rainier, National Park Website, 2002, Mount Rainier Nature News Notes, April 1, 1927, Vol.IV, No.18.

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