Mt. Rainier, Washington (#PC0021)
At 14,410 feet, Mt. Rainier is the highest and most massive of the string of nicely spaced snow-clad volcanic peaks that crown the Cascades of Oregon and Washington. While the Pacific Crest Trail touches only upon the western boundary of the 236,000-acre Mt. Rainier National Park, the great peak is visible along a large part of the trail in Washington, including this view from within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Unfortunately, only about 180,000 acres of the 1,372,000-acre Gifford Pinchot National Forest is designated as protected wilderness. The great old growth forests of Douglas-fir, Pacific silver fir, western cedar and western hemlock were left open to exploitation during the clearcutting and road-building binge of the 1980's and much devastation resulted. The Gifford Pinchot is one of the oldest national forests and is named after the father of American forestry. I wonder what he would have thought about all of this?
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