Top things to do with kids at Mount Rainier National Park this season
If you’re a traveling parent, Mount Rainier might not be on your immediate list of great places to visit with kids. It’s a big mountain after all, with glaciers, crevasses and a bit of a reputation for avalanches and potential destruction.
But there’s much more to it!
Not bringing the kiddos to Mount Rainier National Park would mean that you’ve missed out on short waterfall hikes, visitor centers, paved nature loops and more. There’s a ton for kids to do that doesn’t include climbing, mountaineering or getting anywhere near the summit of the Northwest’s most famous mountain.
Read on to learn about a few of these options.
Trail of Shadows
The Trail of Shadows, found across the street from the National Park Inn in Longmire, is continually at the top of the list of fun, kid-friendly hikes in the park. It’s quite close to the Nisqually entrance, directly across the street from food, restrooms and a gift shop, and regularly without snow.
At .7 miles round-trip, this loop is flat and easy with a plenty of fun features for the kids to look for on both sides of the trail —mainly, its bubbling springs.
In fact, the springs in Longmire Meadow and all around the trail were once thought to be restorative, and there once was an old hotel off the trail called the Longmire Medical Springs Resort. Guests came from all around to pay $8 to bathe in the 50-85 degree waters around the resort.
My kids (aged 5 and 9) loved running up and down the trail and pointing out the rust-colored springs before pelting them with snowballs. Then they would watch the snow as it turned brown and disappeared into eternity.
Mount Rainier looms over the trail, and on good days, you can see it. Tell the kids to look for frogs, salamanders and black-tailed deer.
Nisqually Vista Trail at Paradise
In the rightfully named Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park lies the Nisqually Vista Trail. Officially, it’s an easy 1.2-mile paved loop, quite accessible for kids, strollers and wheelchairs alike (a short section of steps begins the trail).
Unofficially, it’s a wonderful little gem of the area.
If you’re visiting in the spring season, be prepared to cross snow patches or, depending on the year, for the entire trail to be covered in snow. This trail can be cross-country skied or snowshoed as well.
In the summer months, enjoy a plethora of wildflowers spotting and dotting the landscape all the way up to the snowline.
Stop at the Nisqually Vista and look up at Mount Rainier and its Nisqually Glacier from one of the park’s most unique viewpoints.
Head back to the Henry M. Jackson Visitor’s Center, grab a slice of pizza and take the kids through the museum and gift shop.
You’ll find snow patches all year round in Paradise, so it’s also a great place to build a snowman or get into a snowball fight.
Myrtle Falls at Paradise
How about a kid-friendly waterfall hike? Also in the Paradise area, the Myrtle Falls Trail is a paved 1-mile out and-back-trail, accessed from the Paradise parking lot.
If you’re hiking in the summer, get ready to be blinded by wildflowers on your way out to a footbridge over Edith Creek.
Turn left, and you’ll find Myrtle Falls, a 60-foot cascading waterfall bringing meltwater from the “mother of waters” herself (Tahoma, or Mount Rainier).
The Silver Falls Loop Trail
Hike along the Ohanepecosh River up to Silver Falls for a roaringly wonderful kid-friendly waterfall hike in the Southeast region of Mount Rainier National Park.
This is a deeply forested hike at a lower elevation (2,300ish feet), with river waters so famously clear that you can see the bottom at most viewpoints.
The kids will pay attention to this one with switchbacks, bridges and viewpoints across the river into forested lands straight out of “Legend” or “Return of the Jedi.” The nearly deafening white noise of the rapids and the cascading waters over rocks and boulders will calm your family’s souls and remind you of the beauty and power of the park.
Note: Ohanepecosh Campground will remain closed through November 2026 for rehabilitation and updates, but this trail can still be accessed via the Eastside trail.
The Junior Ranger Program
A great way to help your children interact more with the park and its stewards is the nationwide Junior Ranger Program. If you haven’t discovered it yet, it’s free, and materials can be found at any visitor center at any national park across the country.
Once your children complete their booklets – which include many education-based activities – they can earn their badges and get sworn in by your friendly local interpretive ranger in a fun ceremony where they swear an oath to visit and protect public lands.
At Mount Rainier National Park, junior ranger booklets can be picked up at the Jackson Visitor Center in Paradise, the Sunrise Visitor Center, the Ohanepecosh Visitor Center or the Longmire Visitor Center.
Kids are wonderfully adaptable to nature’s wild places, and I’ve found that mine can quite easily find a way to make new games out of any stick, pond or rock. National parks are perfect places to unleash youthful energy (at any age), and Mount Rainier National Park is no exception.
Ultimately, when you find yourself wondering what to do next in a national park, just follow your kids for a while. They’ll show you what to do.
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