Beginning Nov. 27, the road between Longmire and Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park will be closed to public travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Longmire and the park remain open seven days a week, barring major storms.
The Longmire visitor information center also will move from the Longmire Museum across the street into the historic Administration Building, the large building that houses the Wilderness Information Center in the summer. The information center will be open from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. every day.
“We are strategically deploying available park staff and resources to provide access to Paradise Thursday through Monday, the five days of the week with greatest visitation,” park Superintendent Randy King said of the closure.
Statistics show that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are, on average, the park’s least-visited days, with fewer than 60 visitor vehicles coming through the Nisqually entrance on a typical winter day, King said.
By focusing staff on fewer days, the park will be better able to provide access and services during times of greatest visitation, including more consistent road plowing and emergency patrols for visitor safety, he said.
The area above Longmire also will be closed to overnight camping on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because safe road access won’t be available.
jeff.mayor@ thenewstribune.com
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