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Mount Rainier
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Mount Rainier
CLOSE TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT RAINIER
Photograph by Curtis & Miller
ON THE WAY TO THE SUMMIT OF PINNACLE PEAK, ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING
AND POPULAR CLIMBS IN THE TATOOSH RANGE
Photograph by Ranapar Studio
IN AN ARCTIC WONDERLAND
 COASTING IN WINTER AT LONGMIRE SPRINGS Photograph by Ranapar Studio |
MOUNT RAINIER is nearly three miles high, measured from sea level. It rises nearly two miles from its immediate base. From Puget Sound it seems to rise directly from sea level—a symmetrical volcano cone—but as the mountain is approached its rugged glacial valleys are more easily perceived.
In addition to the twenty-eight named glaciers there are others yet unnamed and little known. Few visitors have seen the wonderful north side, a photograph of which will be found on a later page. It possesses possibilities for the development of a route to Columbia Crest, the won derful snow-covered summit which is the third highest peak in the United States.
Many interesting things might be told of the glaciers were there space. For example, several species of minute insects live in the ice, hopping about like tiny fleas. They are harder to see than the so-called sand fleas at the seashore because much smaller. Slender, dark-brown worms live in countless millions in the surface ice.
Microscopic rose-colored plants also thrive in such great numbers that they tint the surface here and there, making what is commonly called "red snow."
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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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