May 2006-Aug 2008 MRNP Paradise PARKING ISSUE

FYI, if you are planning any tours around Paradise "proper", there is major construction beginning this week (5/30/06) at the Paradise Inn/visitor center.  The whole upper parking lot is going to be closed to store equipment and materials, creating a "safety zone",  this will leave only half the parking spots available.  There will be 100 parking spots available around the Jackson Visitor Center, also some parking in designated spots in the Paradise picnic area, which will be about an additional 200 spots, and parking along the Paradise Valley Road, and of course the lower Paradise Parking.  The Park Service is providing a shuttle bus from the lower Paradise parking lot to the upper area, but you might have to wait 15 to 20 minutes for the shuttle to come by.  That in itself should be quite the circus.  Hmmmmm, wonder if they will provide a ski rack on the back and a luggage rack on top  :  .  Tuesday the fencing will start to be put up at the upper lot, June 5th the scaffolding is scheduled to go up at the inn and masons will begin taking down the 90 foot fireplaces, in late June crews will be lifting the left wing to start foundation work.  The renovation of Paradise Inn is expected to be complete in April 2008 with a May 2008 reopening.  August 2008, construction of the new visitor center is scheduled to be complete. 

Thanks for the information. It is especially useful to someone from the dry side- I would have probably made the unhappy discovery of the situation when arriving there. I will be making a few annual pilgrimages there this month. It sounds like midweek days would be best.

Good point.
I think the over simplified underlying tenet here, especially if you'll be skiing weekends, is "arrive early or suffer some parking inconveniences".

That parking lot is getting dug up a little.  Video June 6, 2006.

Thanks for the photo Larry. Ron and I were up there on Sunday (6-4) after our tour of the Unicorn just to have a look. As your picture shows, the main lot is unavailable and there are only a handful of parking spots left. The picnic/parking area was still closed due to snow and the Jackson Visitor Center parking was full up even on that rainy Sunday afternoon. It should be interesting this summer, or any given nice weekend.

.... two-hour parking limit at the parking lot at the existing visitor center....


Rainier parking no picnic
Construction at Paradise takes space, but buses start in July

JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
Published: June 20th, 2006 01:00 AM

PARADISE – The parking situation at Paradise will get a little worse before it gets better.
That was one message delivered Monday by staff members at Mount Rainier National Park as they discussed the construction of the new visitor center and renovation of the Paradise Inn.

Construction crews earlier in the day began excavating the site of the new center, which will replace the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center in fall 2008. They also have started the seismic retrofit of the inn, beginning with dismantling the massive stone fireplace near the snack shop.

The two projects, which will cost more than $34 million, are creating a logistical headache for park officials, who are trying to maintain the experience of visiting Paradise and Mount Rainier while managing the largest construction project in the history of the park.

The sound of a jackhammer reverberated throughout the empty grand hall, as masons removed each stone, marked it, lowered it 40 feet to the ground, cleaned it and put it on a pallet. Later, the three fireplaces will be rebuilt, each stone going back in the correct place, like a puzzle made of stones weighing up to 900 pounds each.

Elsewhere in the inn, crews had stripped walls down to the studs, revealing the building’s distinct lean, created by the weight of snow from 90 winters.

The construction hubbub had the attention of Susan Dietz, who was walking around the area with her 8-year-old grandson Garrett. The Spanaway resident drives a bus for Rainier Mountaineering Inc.

“I’ll miss going in to sit by the fire and warm up between runs,” she said.

The work is the culmination of 10 years of planning, budgeting, designing and chasing park construction dollars, said park superintendent Dave Uberuaga.

But he and others realize there is still plenty of work to do.

A priority is finding places for visitors to park.

Morgan Koons, a 20-year-old Olympia resident, parked in front of the construction site, awaiting the arrival of four friends. They were going to attempt to reach the summit of the mountain today. She asked where the overnight parking was located.

Mother Nature is working against those plans, blanketing much of the Paradise picnic area under 6 to 8 feet of snow. The picnic area will be the site of day-use and overnight parking, as well as a staging area for climbers.

Plans to start a shuttle bus service have been delayed by the awarding of the construction contract. Darin Swinney said the service won’t be in place until mid-July.

There will be two routes, one serving the immediate Paradise area, and another shuttling visitors from Longmire.

The 28- to 32-passenger buses will make the Valley Road loop every 10 to 15 minutes.

Another set of buses will run five to six times a day from Longmire. The first bus will leave at 9:30 a.m. and the last bus down will depart from Paradise at 9 p.m. This route will include stops at Cougar Rock campground and Glacier Bridge.

That stop was added at the large parking lot next to the large bridge crossing the Nisqually River to accommodate park visitors driving recreational vehicles. Swinney said large RVs will not be allowed to park in the Paradise area.

“If you get a fifth wheel (trailer) in there, the whole system will quickly fall apart,” Swinney said.

Another change is a two-hour parking limit at the parking lot at the existing visitor center.

He suggested drivers drop off their passengers and gear at the lower parking lot before parking in the picnic area or along the Valley Road.

Down in Ashford, the closure of the inn for the next two seasons has been good news for local motels. Managers at Nisqually Lodge and Whittaker’s Bunkhouse said rooms are filling earlier than normal. Between phone calls, Ethel Schrofe said rooms at the lodge for July will likely be booked by the end of the month.

“We’re pretty much booked up all the way through summer. The slow month, June, is quickly getting busy,” she said. “We’ve had to turn away a lot of folks, unfortunately.”

Back at Paradise, even on a day when gray clouds hid the park’s signature vista, the park offered a unique experience.

Joab Schultheis, his wife and two children spent the morning at the visitor center. In Seattle for a week’s vacation, this was the first trip to Mount Rainier for the Evansville, Ind., family.

“It’s been pleasant. We’ve got 85 degrees back home, so to see snow is a little unexpected in late June,” Schultheis said.