Corey
OverCamping Specialist
I do prefer backcountry camping to a pay per site campground such as Mt. Rainier, but I did that last year, and I wanted to visit Mt. Rainier again.
My next trip out will more than likely be in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, the Greenwater area which has miles upon miles of area to camp for free by rivers and creeks.
I never tire of Mt. Rainier though, as I started camping there in the 90’s when my two sons were small and we had our second tent trailer.
The views of “The Mountain” as most of us call it that live in the Pacific Northwest are spectacular.
Speaking of views, the site across from me is the best one in the place out of the 112 sites available there.
Of course that spot is very hard to get since it does offer a full time view of the mountain.
People also will walk to the fence that is a few feet back from the cliff to shoot pictures of Rainier, so you always have foot traffic at the end of your site.
The campground is situated at the 4,400’ level, and more info on the campground can be found here.
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGW297-031
While the area is very nice, it can also get very dusty and hot there as it did this week with a heat wave going on back in town.
I brought my own shower, a Zodi Hotman Extreme, and I saw others too that have the hanging solar showers from a tree.
Many do not have one, and I am glad they keep their distance from me
The site is very popular for car camping which I was doing, backpackers wanting to get way far up into the wilderness, and those who came to setup a base camp to go out and hike all day and return before dinner to go out again the very next day, and those who come and park in the climbers lot that are ascending the mountain to its summit.
Most of the sites were occupied by tent campers with a wide variety of tent manufacturers, and some RVs such as small motorhomes and full size trucks with nice campers on them, and also tent trailers.
As it was two years ago when I was up there, I was the lone roof top tent up there.
Many have never seen or heard of a roof top tent before, so I was busy passing out some AutoHome brochures I got from Mike at AutoHome.
Hey Mike, I need some more.
Needless to say I was very busy fielding questions on the tent and many had to climb the ladder to take a peak inside.
The staring at it never ceased by those who walked or drove by looking for a site to claim.
First night there I saw a woman who wandered into my camp and said “hello there neighbor.”
She was curious about the FJ and the tent, and I talked with here many a times over the course of my stay up there and met her boyfriend too.
They were across from me and down a few sites.
Turns out she is originally from Columbia and had the accent to prove it.
She is a school teacher from the Los Angeles area, and they were taking about a month to explore the mountain ranges between there and Rainier.
They had full mountaineering equipment with them and would go out and day hike up to the glaciers as they were fully prepared for it.
They had planned on pushing off by Monday the 16th to drive down to Mt. Adams and ascend the mountain to its summit.
Very nice people, and we talked for hours about camping in general and all the camping toys I had.
They are pretty hardcore at camping, and remind me of myself twenty years ago when I use to get out a lot more often.
The people right next to me are local from the Gig Harbor area.
They were camped there for the long haul, about two weeks.
Sunday (today as I write this) would be one week, and they plan on one more.
They make the trek to buy ice (Mt. Rainier really should offer ice at the lodge up at Sunrise, they would make a killing on it) about every four days down to the town of Greenwater that I driver through on my way up.
The setup they had was pretty cool, and I have a few pictures of it.
It consists of a huge REI two bedroom tent and a screenroom they attached to the other door.
The screenroom is floorless so they have a tarp down.
They cook inside of it and have chairs to relax bug free.
I am a huge target for bugs, but they really go after her.
Some will scoff and say that is not camping, but if it keeps them comfortable and gets them out, then I say more power to them.
They did go out quite a bit to hike during the day, and twice they drove up to Sunrise which is the highest place you can drive to in the park to watch the Perseids Meteor showers.
I missed it, as peak viewing time is around 2 am PST.
I sleep so well on these trips, I was in the tent from around 10 PM to 6 am every night.
I do not get that much sleep at home, I average around five to six hours a night.
The sound of the White River below is very soothing, and lulls you to sleep.
Speaking of that…my first night I was almost asleep when I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet out on my awning.
More than likely it was that of a chipmunk that had jumped down from a tree limb above my awning.
This trip I forgot a few things at home such as my hiking boots, cord for the solar panel setup to keep the battery topped off, and I had misplaced my brackets for my new shelf setup for inside the tent.
Arghhhhhhhhh…
The combination of forgetting the solar charge controller cord, wrong shoes, and the fact that it was extremely hot up there is why I cut the trip short.
I had enough food and clothing for a week or more, and I had fully planned on staying up there that long.
Going to keep some items in the rig fulltime so no more forgetting of items, and I need to do some research too on new hiking boots.
Mine are around 21 years old, some old Vasque Gore-Tex ones from REI.
Got to try out some new gear too this year which is in a separate thread in the camping section.
You will see a lot of Mt. Rainier pictures, as that is the main reason I go there.
If I had brought my boots I would have gone a lot further up this one trail to the glacier to get some better pictures of it.
Those of us who live in the PNW are treated to views of it from most major cities here all the time on a clear day, and it is a treat to be up close to it like this and see the crevasses and summit up close.
Gotta have food, here is a few shots of the fridge.
I really like the baskets I bought from Wil at Sierra Expeditions last year, I keep the cheese and fruit in them on top.
A few pictures on the way up highway 410.
This is signage when you just pass the entrance to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort a short ways back.
48° a little after 8 am, but it sure warmed up fast within a few hours to around 80°.
Arrival at my site after driving twice around the D loop (there are four loops in all) looking for a prime spot.
Yes, the propane bottle had a ratchet strap on it, had just taken it off for those concerned about safety.
One of the new ECS footlockers: one I brought outside, the other one I left in the rig.
Yeah, I was ticked I left the cable at home for the solar, I would probably still be up there with a topped off battery.
A few new items I picked up, the Camp Chef Denali stove/grille, and the 11 lb Regasco fiberglass see through propane tank.
My next trip out will more than likely be in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, the Greenwater area which has miles upon miles of area to camp for free by rivers and creeks.
I never tire of Mt. Rainier though, as I started camping there in the 90’s when my two sons were small and we had our second tent trailer.
The views of “The Mountain” as most of us call it that live in the Pacific Northwest are spectacular.
Speaking of views, the site across from me is the best one in the place out of the 112 sites available there.
Of course that spot is very hard to get since it does offer a full time view of the mountain.
People also will walk to the fence that is a few feet back from the cliff to shoot pictures of Rainier, so you always have foot traffic at the end of your site.
The campground is situated at the 4,400’ level, and more info on the campground can be found here.
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGW297-031
While the area is very nice, it can also get very dusty and hot there as it did this week with a heat wave going on back in town.
I brought my own shower, a Zodi Hotman Extreme, and I saw others too that have the hanging solar showers from a tree.
Many do not have one, and I am glad they keep their distance from me
The site is very popular for car camping which I was doing, backpackers wanting to get way far up into the wilderness, and those who came to setup a base camp to go out and hike all day and return before dinner to go out again the very next day, and those who come and park in the climbers lot that are ascending the mountain to its summit.
Most of the sites were occupied by tent campers with a wide variety of tent manufacturers, and some RVs such as small motorhomes and full size trucks with nice campers on them, and also tent trailers.
As it was two years ago when I was up there, I was the lone roof top tent up there.
Many have never seen or heard of a roof top tent before, so I was busy passing out some AutoHome brochures I got from Mike at AutoHome.
Hey Mike, I need some more.
Needless to say I was very busy fielding questions on the tent and many had to climb the ladder to take a peak inside.
The staring at it never ceased by those who walked or drove by looking for a site to claim.
First night there I saw a woman who wandered into my camp and said “hello there neighbor.”
She was curious about the FJ and the tent, and I talked with here many a times over the course of my stay up there and met her boyfriend too.
They were across from me and down a few sites.
Turns out she is originally from Columbia and had the accent to prove it.
She is a school teacher from the Los Angeles area, and they were taking about a month to explore the mountain ranges between there and Rainier.
They had full mountaineering equipment with them and would go out and day hike up to the glaciers as they were fully prepared for it.
They had planned on pushing off by Monday the 16th to drive down to Mt. Adams and ascend the mountain to its summit.
Very nice people, and we talked for hours about camping in general and all the camping toys I had.
They are pretty hardcore at camping, and remind me of myself twenty years ago when I use to get out a lot more often.
The people right next to me are local from the Gig Harbor area.
They were camped there for the long haul, about two weeks.
Sunday (today as I write this) would be one week, and they plan on one more.
They make the trek to buy ice (Mt. Rainier really should offer ice at the lodge up at Sunrise, they would make a killing on it) about every four days down to the town of Greenwater that I driver through on my way up.
The setup they had was pretty cool, and I have a few pictures of it.
It consists of a huge REI two bedroom tent and a screenroom they attached to the other door.
The screenroom is floorless so they have a tarp down.
They cook inside of it and have chairs to relax bug free.
I am a huge target for bugs, but they really go after her.
Some will scoff and say that is not camping, but if it keeps them comfortable and gets them out, then I say more power to them.
They did go out quite a bit to hike during the day, and twice they drove up to Sunrise which is the highest place you can drive to in the park to watch the Perseids Meteor showers.
I missed it, as peak viewing time is around 2 am PST.
I sleep so well on these trips, I was in the tent from around 10 PM to 6 am every night.
I do not get that much sleep at home, I average around five to six hours a night.
The sound of the White River below is very soothing, and lulls you to sleep.
Speaking of that…my first night I was almost asleep when I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet out on my awning.
More than likely it was that of a chipmunk that had jumped down from a tree limb above my awning.
This trip I forgot a few things at home such as my hiking boots, cord for the solar panel setup to keep the battery topped off, and I had misplaced my brackets for my new shelf setup for inside the tent.
Arghhhhhhhhh…
The combination of forgetting the solar charge controller cord, wrong shoes, and the fact that it was extremely hot up there is why I cut the trip short.
I had enough food and clothing for a week or more, and I had fully planned on staying up there that long.
Going to keep some items in the rig fulltime so no more forgetting of items, and I need to do some research too on new hiking boots.
Mine are around 21 years old, some old Vasque Gore-Tex ones from REI.
Got to try out some new gear too this year which is in a separate thread in the camping section.
You will see a lot of Mt. Rainier pictures, as that is the main reason I go there.
If I had brought my boots I would have gone a lot further up this one trail to the glacier to get some better pictures of it.
Those of us who live in the PNW are treated to views of it from most major cities here all the time on a clear day, and it is a treat to be up close to it like this and see the crevasses and summit up close.
Gotta have food, here is a few shots of the fridge.
I really like the baskets I bought from Wil at Sierra Expeditions last year, I keep the cheese and fruit in them on top.
A few pictures on the way up highway 410.
This is signage when you just pass the entrance to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort a short ways back.
48° a little after 8 am, but it sure warmed up fast within a few hours to around 80°.
Arrival at my site after driving twice around the D loop (there are four loops in all) looking for a prime spot.
Yes, the propane bottle had a ratchet strap on it, had just taken it off for those concerned about safety.
One of the new ECS footlockers: one I brought outside, the other one I left in the rig.
Yeah, I was ticked I left the cable at home for the solar, I would probably still be up there with a topped off battery.
A few new items I picked up, the Camp Chef Denali stove/grille, and the 11 lb Regasco fiberglass see through propane tank.
