“The most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”
—John Muir
Towering over the surrounding landscape like an earthbound deity, Mount Rainier in Washington state simultaneously possesses the power for bountiful creation and extreme destruction. With over two dozen glaciers on its nearly 3-mile-high peak, the water gathered by the mountain is the source of five major rivers that continuously fuel life on the slopes and land below. From sub-alpine meadows to ancient forests, the mountain is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna. The beauty and peace found climbing up the mountain’s solitude earned an area of the park the name “Paradise” in the early 20th century. However, as the largest active volcano in the Cascade Mountain range, Mount Rainier has the potential to take away much of what it has given. Scientists and park enthusiasts keep a watchful eye on the perennial gifts and threats that this magnificent mountain provides to growing population centers of the Seattle region….