Mount Rainier

This is mountain country, and swimming is not part of a stay. The lakes inside the park, such as Reflection Lakes and the tarns along the high trails, are fed by snowmelt and stay bitingly cold even in August, and wading is about as far as most people go. In high summer a few reservoirs in the lowland valleys below the park, such as Alder Lake near Elbe, have shores where local families swim and paddle, but there is no sand and sea and no beach life to plan a vacation around.

Eating here is fuel for walking. The gateway towns of Ashford, Packwood, Elbe and Enumclaw have a small number of roadside diners, pizza and burger places, a few cafés for coffee before the drive up, and the occasional brewpub, while the historic lodges at Paradise and Longmire serve hearty dining-room meals. Many visitors pack picnics and eat at the trailheads, which is often the most memorable meal of the day.

There is no local cuisine to seek out beyond the Pacific Northwest staples of salmon, berries in late summer and good coffee. Choice thins further in winter, and anyone who wants a proper restaurant meal has to drive back towards Tacoma or Seattle.

The heritage here belongs to the national park itself, one of the oldest in the country. Longmire has the original park headquarters, a small museum and the rustic stone and timber buildings that set the style for American park architecture. Paradise Inn, a log-and-cedar lodge from the early twentieth century with a great beamed lobby, is the main landmark and worth a look even for those not staying.

Beyond that, the list is short: visitor centres with exhibits on glaciers and volcanoes, the old fire lookouts on the high ridges, and small local history museums in Eatonville and Enumclaw. It is pleasant background to a mountain trip, not a reason to come.

There is essentially no nightlife. A tavern or brewpub in Ashford or Packwood may keep the lights on for a beer after a day on the trails, but evenings are spent on a cabin porch, round a campfire or looking at the stars, and most people are asleep early ahead of a dawn start for the high trails.

This is the reason to come. Mount Rainier rises to 4,392m, a heavily glaciated volcano that fills the sky from every viewpoint, with old-growth forest on its lower slopes and subalpine meadows above. Paradise, on the south side, has the Skyline Trail across wildflower meadows and up to glacier views. Sunrise, on the drier northeast side and the highest point reached by road, looks straight at the Emmons Glacier. In the southeast, the trail along the Ohanapecosh River to Silver Falls runs through towering cedars and Douglas firs, and the Carbon River valley in the northwest holds wet temperate rainforest thick with moss and ferns.

The Wonderland Trail circles the whole mountain and takes about two weeks. Experienced parties climb to the summit with guides, and elk, marmots and mountain goats are common sightings. The high country is at its best from July to September, with the meadows in flower in late July and August. Snow buries Paradise for much of the year, when it becomes snowshoe and ski-touring terrain, and Crystal Mountain and White Pass on the edges of the park offer lift skiing.

The mountain is surrounded by forest and farmland, so the places worth a day out lie in the lowlands. Tacoma, about an hour and a half from the southwest entrance, is the most practical: its waterfront museum district includes a glass museum with a working hot shop, a state history museum and a large car museum. Olympia, the state capital, with its domed capitol building, is a similar drive. Seattle is around two hours away, at the edge of a comfortable day, and most visitors combine it with the mountain rather than visit it from here.

Closer in, Eatonville, Elbe and Enumclaw are small rural towns, pleasant for a coffee stop rather than a destination in themselves.

For families who like being outdoors, the mountain works well. Short, level trails such as Trail of the Shadows at Longmire, past old homestead cabins and mineral springs, and the Nisqually Vista loop at Paradise suit small legs. On the southeast side, a short paved path at Box Canyon leads to a footbridge over a deep, narrow slot where the river roars far below, a quick stop that children remember. Children can take part in the park's junior ranger programme and often see marmots and deer up close, and snow lingers at Paradise into early summer, which delights most of them. Outside the park, the wildlife park at Northwest Trek near Eatonville shows bison, bears and wolves from a tram, and a heritage steam railway runs from Elbe through the forest.

The drawbacks are practical. Everything means a drive on winding roads, food choices are basic, and the higher trails have drop-offs and changeable weather. A family should plan for a few days rather than a long stay.

A car is essential. There is no useful public transport into or around the park, and the sights are spread around a large mountain: Paradise and Sunrise are each about an hour from the nearest gateway town and roughly two hours from each other by road. The roads themselves are well kept but winding, with slow traffic and very full trailhead car parks at Paradise and Sunrise on fine summer weekends.

The season shapes everything. The road to Sunrise and the high passes on the east side are open only from early summer to autumn. In winter, only the road from Longmire to Paradise is kept open, and drivers need chains. Staying in Ashford for the south side, or in Packwood or Enumclaw for the east and north, cuts down the driving.

There is nothing to shop for beyond the park gift shops, which sell maps, field guides and souvenirs, and a few general stores and small craft or gallery shops in the gateway towns. Buy outdoor gear before arriving, in Seattle or Tacoma.

The mountain is cheap to enter and the main attractions, the trails and viewpoints, cost nothing once inside, but staying nearby is not. The places to sleep are few: two historic lodges in the park, and cabins, motels and rented houses in the gateway towns, and in July and August they fill early and charge full summer rates. Meals are at ordinary American prices, with few cheap options and a long drive to anything else.

Campers do best. The park's campgrounds and the national forest sites around it make a very economical stay possible, and the shoulder months of June and late September bring room prices down.

There is no performing arts life here. The nearest thing to an evening programme is a ranger talk at a campground amphitheatre in summer, or occasionally a local musician at a tavern. Anyone who wants concerts or theatre has to go back to Tacoma or Seattle.

There is no spa or bathing culture to speak of. The small hot springs at Ohanapecosh are something to look at on a short forest walk, not somewhere to soak, and pampering stops at a hot tub on the deck of a rented cabin or a massage at one of the few lodges in the gateway towns.

What the area offers instead is quiet. A cabin under the firs near Ashford or Packwood with no phone signal, river noise at night and no plans beyond an easy walk is real rest for many visitors. That calm is the whole of the offer here.