June News & Report

I've updated the Mt. Rainier NP news and information, access and conditions and monthly report Web pages for June. It's a little early but one week isn't going to change things. What's open will be open next week and what's closed still will be closed. Nothing new will be opened until mid-to late June.

June is still pretty much a continuation of a late spring snowmelt with an above normal snowpack. Snow still persists throughout the NP, including the lower elevations where there is still about 2 feet at Longmore and mid-elevations where there is about 12 feet at Paradise. While the facilities, roads, and campgrounds are opening, everything is still about snow. Even in the lowland forests and trails.

This is where June will be the month everything changes, as the snowmelts and the snow elevations rises opening the trails, forests, meadows, lakes, waterfalls, etc. Ever so slowly everything from 5-6,000 feet and lower will open from winter into spring. But June can be either a warm month where everything changes quickly or a a cool month where the changes are slower and into July.

This mean it all depends on the weather through the month. That's really it in a nutshell. So if you're planning a trip in June, check the weather, the snowpack and other reports for the weather and conditions. But expect snow. And remember after the snowmelts and the ponds form and warm, and the bugs follow.

So expect them at the lower elevations as usual, but you might be able to escape them with elevation with the cooler temperatures and snow. But then expect them was the snow level rises with the melting snowpack. The bugs don't normally peak until mid-July to mid-August depending on the year, ending with the first near-freezing temperatures.

That's it for now. I expect to update the reports in mid-June for the changes.