Paradise Valley and Inn – Mount Raine

Paradise Valley is on the south central slope of Mt. Rainier and is the best known part of Rainier National Park. It has an elevation of over 5,500 feet. The story is told that when the two first women to visit the Park wound up the trail through the forest, they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a most wonderful and beautiful scenery. "Oh, what a paradise," exclaimed one. "Yes, a real paradise!" answered the other. Since that time, 1885, the valley has been known as Paradise Valley, and the name has been extended to the river and the glacier from which it derives its source. One of the two women was the wife of David Longmire, an early pioneer and explorer of the park.

There are twenty-eight named glaciers and many others unnamed in the Park. About these many interesting things can be told. Several species of minute insects live in the ice and there are also great numbers of tiny rose-colored plants which give the ice a rosy tint "Red snow" it is called then.

Paradise Glacier, which is the source of Paradise Rier, is an example of an ice body nourished wholly by snows falling on the lower slope of a mountain. The glacier makes its start at an elevation of less than 9,000 feet. This region is a very attractive one to tourists, as one can safely cross the glacier without finding one dangerous fissure. This is largely due to the evenness of the glacier's bed and to its hollow shape.

Mt. Rainier is an extinct volcano, but steam emitted from openings in the rocks shows that there is heated rock near the surface.