MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 



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the building of an encircling road, for there are canyons 

 and hogbacks that reach down from the crest of the peak 

 in a way that is well calculated to discourage the most 

 intrepid road builder. Added to these are a series of huge 

 glaciers thrusting their snouts out into the surrounding 

 territory like the tentacles of an octopus that discourage 

 the over-ambitious ; nevertheless, a highway has been 

 planned and, in fact, tentatively surveyed, which would 

 encircle the mountain, giving access to the innumerable 



Many people who have climbed the Alps would un- 

 doubtedly be inclined to disparage Mount Rainier if they 

 had not been there, but no less an authority than Professor ' 

 Joseph N. Le Conte gave it as his opinion that there was 

 no single system of glaciers in Switzerland which could 

 surpass the system that crowns Mount Rainier. Just how 

 glaciers are counted, when most of them seem to join in 

 one solid mass of ice, I do not know but I have heard it 

 stated, by those who have had lessons in plain and fancy 



BIG CEDARS IN RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 



The charms of Mount Rainier National Park are not confined to glaciers and misappropriated masculine costumes. There are verdant forests of giant cedar 

 which cast their somber shadows across the paths like deep purple mottles upon the carpet of inviting green. These trees are among the largest of their species 

 in the world and possess an individuality that is surpassed only by the strange and weird impressiveness of the California sequoias. 



wonderful valleys, canyons and glaciers that abound on 

 all sides of the peak, and it is to be hoped that sooner 

 or later this road will be built. 



From Paradise Valley there is one established route 

 for reaching the summit. The trail of this route follows 

 along the hogback from Paradise Valley over the most 

 easily negotiated snow fields to a point called Camp Muir 

 at an elevation of 10,000 feet. From there the climbing 

 becomes arduous and somewhat dangerous. It is, in 

 fact, so dangerous as to be unsafe for those who are not 

 experienced in negotiating glaciers and should not be 

 taken without a guide. 



counting, that there are over twenty-five glaciers in this 

 Park, and that these glaciers cover an area in excess of 

 forty square miles. The names of some of these glaciers 

 are particularly interesting. There are the Frying Pan, 

 Emmons, Winthrop, Russell, Flett, Success, Van Trump, 

 Wilson and Stevens Glaciers. One is curious to know 

 whether the list of proper names was exhausted before 

 Tahoma Glacier was given its beautiful, musical name. 

 On the eastern slope the glaciers seem to be broken 

 and more disconnected than on the northern slope, but 

 the surrounding country is not less beautiful. The 

 glaciers that extend to the north are considerably larger 



