Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state was established in 1899 to preserve the mountain and surrounding wilderness. It is home to one of the largest volcanoes in the world and receives two million visitors annually. The park has over 300 miles of hiking trails and is home to the largest glacial system in America.
Mount Rainier National Park is part of the United States National Park system, located in Lewis and Pierce counties in Washington state. It was officially established as a National Park on March 2, 1899 by order of President William McKinley. The park is intended to help preserve Mount Rainier and the wilderness areas surrounding it. Mount Rainier is one of the tallest peaks in the continental United States and is also believed to be one of the largest volcanoes in the world. The peak itself reaches a height of about 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and the park itself encompasses about 368 square miles (950 square kilometers) of land, about 96 percent of which is classified as true wilderness.
Humans are believed to have inhabited the area now known as Mount Rainier National Park since around 4,000 BC. Native peoples probably referred to the mountain as Tahcoma. Captain George Vancouver, and English, is generally credited with being the first European to discover the mountain in 1792. He is said to have named the peak “Mount Rainier” after his friend and fellow Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.
In the early 19th century, European activity in the Mount Rainier National Park area was limited to hunting, trapping, exploration, and scientific expeditions. European settlers began establishing communities in the area in the latter half of the 19th century. Philemon van Trump and Hazard Stevens are credited with being the first men to successfully scale Mount Rainier to its summit, in 19. Rail travel began attracting tourists to Mount Rainier and the surrounding region in the last two decades of the 19th century. Petitions from organizations such as the Sierra Club, the National Geographic Society, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Geological Society of America led to the creation of Mount Rainier National Park as a protected public wilderness in 1990.
Today, Mount Rainier National Park receives about two million visitors a year, many of them from nearby urban centers. Visitors to Mount Rainier National Park can enjoy more than 300 miles (482.8 kilometers) of hiking trails. About 10,000 people attempt to summit Mount Rainier each year. The park also boasts approximately 91,000 acres (370 square kilometers) of mature forests. The slopes of Mount Rainier are home to over 26 glaciers, making it the largest glacial system in America.
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