A book was recently published on barrier-free travel in Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks, see information. The book is a good overview of the ADA compliance by the National Park Service in those National Parks. The goal here is a review of the book as while I found the specific information about ADA access accurate, I found the general to be inaccurate or incomplete and a lack of additional resources for current information.
The book covers two National Park, but I'll focus on the chapters on Mt. Rainier NP, specifically by section and page. The first is a semantic difference since I'm a geographer. On page 43, 2nd paragraph, it should be noted Mt. Rainier NP doesn't a southwest side, it has a south or west side (boundary) and a southwest quadrant, corner or area.
On the same page under "The Basics", the section on "Seasons and Road conditions" is incorrect, misleading or incomplete. The NPS for Mt Rainier NP has a Twitter Account where they report current weather, road and other conditions in the NP which effects travellers and visitors. It's more current and quicker than any telephone number will provide.
With respect to the Longmire to Paradise road, from November to May the road is closed nightly at 4-5 PM (always, not "usually" in the book) just east of Longmire and does not reopen until about 9-11 am the following morning after checking the roads and clearing any snow. They report this information via their Twitter account.
More importantly the Sunrise road (White River campground to Sunrise) closes every fall for the whole winter, until the following spring. The NPS shutters their facilities and operations at Sunrise a week or two earlier and then closes the road with the first significant snowfall.
The information on the facilities and campgrounds are good and complete for the different areas in the NP. The point she doesn't make is that the NP essentially closes everything but the Nisqually entrance, Longmire and Paradise in late fall through late spring, leaving just the one access and two areas for visitors.
The next is the Jackson Visitors Center, page 50. The old (1966-2008) Jackson Visitors Center was designed by two architecture companies, one in Hawaii. It was NOT designed and built for Hawaii, and relocated to Mt. Rainier NP as stated in the book. It was designed and built for Mt. Rainier as part of the Mission 66 program.
In addition the NPS built a brand new visitors Center, seen here, for Mt. Rainier, which opened in October 2008. Also, the Paradise Inn was closed in 2010 and re-opened in 2013 after a complete overhaul of the structure and refurbishing of the interior.
The information on the Jackson Visitors Center and Paradise Inn is easily available on Wikipedia and other sources, so I don't know how this was overlooked, but the author and/or editor(s) should have caught this for a book that was just published.
Anyway, overall, the book is a good resource, but I hope the author updates the information to make it a better book.
Friday, August 14, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Hiking and Map Apps
I've added a new Web page for the hiking and map applications on desktop and laptop computers and on smartphones and tablets, along with some Websites with hiking, trail and trailhead information, some with maps.
The new Web page is available here. Please let me know if you know of, have or use applications you feel would be useful for hiking in Mt Rainier NP or has maps of Mt Rainier NP. I'm always open to research them and add them to the list.
The new Web page is available here. Please let me know if you know of, have or use applications you feel would be useful for hiking in Mt Rainier NP or has maps of Mt Rainier NP. I'm always open to research them and add them to the list.
Snow and Snowpack
I've updated the Web page for snow data and information and added a new Web page for snowpack data and information. The former is about the general nature of snow data collected, produced and disseminated for Mt. Rainier NP, but which applies anywhere.
The new Web page on snowpack focuses on snow water equivalent, with the SWE acronym, which is the depth of the water equivalent in a snow column. This data is key for water resources managers for river basin or watershed management for reservoirs, water supply, irrigation, floods, etc. to know the potential amount of runoff from the snowpack.
The Natural Conservation Service, Water Climate Center is responsible for the operation of the network of SNOTEL sites thoughout the western US. They operate three sites in and nearby Mt. Rainier NP and another 3 around the NP (five of the six available on a map of the NP).
In addition I looked at the period of record (1981-2015) for the Paradise site, southeast of the Jackson Visitors Center, for the variation of seasonal snowpack along with the date of the onset of permanent seasonal snow, peak of snowpack, onset and end of the snowmelt.
While a lot has been, and is being, made of the drought year (2015), nine of the last 10 years have been above 95% of the normal snowpack, seven of those years above normal, from 111% to 144%. This year (2015) is the anamoly from the recent trend.
In comparison, only eight of the previous twenty-three years were above normal, with the two record years occurring within a three year period and the intervening year almost normal. In short, low and extreme low snowpack years are the rarity in the last twenty-five years.
The results showed the obvious, that the variation of snow and snowpack is related to the general winter seasonal weather for any given year, meaning the patterns of rain and more so snow storms, and temperature from early fall to last spring into early summer.
The snowmelt season is related to the late spring (late May through June) weather and the early summer (late June into early July). Generally the snowmelt seasons runs from mid-May to mid-July, which in turn defines the wildflower season in the lower to upper elevations in the NP.
Anyway, the pages are up and I'm working on some new Web pages for the photo guide.
The new Web page on snowpack focuses on snow water equivalent, with the SWE acronym, which is the depth of the water equivalent in a snow column. This data is key for water resources managers for river basin or watershed management for reservoirs, water supply, irrigation, floods, etc. to know the potential amount of runoff from the snowpack.
The Natural Conservation Service, Water Climate Center is responsible for the operation of the network of SNOTEL sites thoughout the western US. They operate three sites in and nearby Mt. Rainier NP and another 3 around the NP (five of the six available on a map of the NP).
In addition I looked at the period of record (1981-2015) for the Paradise site, southeast of the Jackson Visitors Center, for the variation of seasonal snowpack along with the date of the onset of permanent seasonal snow, peak of snowpack, onset and end of the snowmelt.
While a lot has been, and is being, made of the drought year (2015), nine of the last 10 years have been above 95% of the normal snowpack, seven of those years above normal, from 111% to 144%. This year (2015) is the anamoly from the recent trend.
In comparison, only eight of the previous twenty-three years were above normal, with the two record years occurring within a three year period and the intervening year almost normal. In short, low and extreme low snowpack years are the rarity in the last twenty-five years.
The results showed the obvious, that the variation of snow and snowpack is related to the general winter seasonal weather for any given year, meaning the patterns of rain and more so snow storms, and temperature from early fall to last spring into early summer.
The snowmelt season is related to the late spring (late May through June) weather and the early summer (late June into early July). Generally the snowmelt seasons runs from mid-May to mid-July, which in turn defines the wildflower season in the lower to upper elevations in the NP.
Anyway, the pages are up and I'm working on some new Web pages for the photo guide.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Weather
I have updated the Web pages for the weather in Mt. Rainier NP, all of which are links on the table of contents for the photo guide, see second section in list of contents. This includes several revisions to make the information current to this year.
In addition I've added two NRCS SNOTEL snow course sites to the map Web page, the Corral Pass since northeast of the northeast (White River) area of the NP, and the Skate Creek site south of the southwest (Nisqually) area.
The Skate Creek site is a popular road connecting Ashford (highway 706) to Packwood (highway 12) with lots of trails overlooking Mt. Rainier, including the High Rock lookout. The Corral pass is near the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort.
I'll be doing a more thorough walk through and review of the Web pages and working on updating the snowpack data through the 2015 water year. I hope to have add this to the Web pages. Please let me know if you have problems or suggestions with the Web pages.
In addition I've added two NRCS SNOTEL snow course sites to the map Web page, the Corral Pass since northeast of the northeast (White River) area of the NP, and the Skate Creek site south of the southwest (Nisqually) area.
The Skate Creek site is a popular road connecting Ashford (highway 706) to Packwood (highway 12) with lots of trails overlooking Mt. Rainier, including the High Rock lookout. The Corral pass is near the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort.
I'll be doing a more thorough walk through and review of the Web pages and working on updating the snowpack data through the 2015 water year. I hope to have add this to the Web pages. Please let me know if you have problems or suggestions with the Web pages.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Current Reports
I've clearly been remiss with the bimonthy (two months) reports on the current conditions and prospects in Mt. Rainier NP, like for the last two years or so. I had the May-June reports ready but not until recently, so I posted the July-August reports are in progress but maybe will be the September-October reports to restart the trend again.
There are excuses and reasons for this absence but really just not wanting to spend the time with the medical and financial issues I've faced the last two years. Anyway, I did add the pages for July-August to let folks know it's a work in progress.
What I have done is to turn my attention to other projects, as seen with the recent work on the USGS maps of Mt. Rainier NP, along with looking at projects for the 100 peaks, trailheads, snowpack, wildflowers (season in peak and will be for this month), etc.
This work changes my thinking from the immediate to the bigger picture of the NP, and removes a lot of personal pressure, and much guilt, I've been putting on myself for not getting the reports out. This helps releases the stress and helps refocus what I've love, the NP.
This is in part because the medical (back, infections, etc.) and financial (it's $50 in gas round trip for my VW van) issues have not allowed me to get to the NP in a few years, hence the guilt. I can see Mt. Rainier from my home office, but just haven't gone.
Anyway, the point is I'm getting back to the work, albeit in increments, but enough to feel a lot better about the progress and the future. There's lots to do (see plans at end of table of contents), and I'm making progress again.
There are excuses and reasons for this absence but really just not wanting to spend the time with the medical and financial issues I've faced the last two years. Anyway, I did add the pages for July-August to let folks know it's a work in progress.
What I have done is to turn my attention to other projects, as seen with the recent work on the USGS maps of Mt. Rainier NP, along with looking at projects for the 100 peaks, trailheads, snowpack, wildflowers (season in peak and will be for this month), etc.
This work changes my thinking from the immediate to the bigger picture of the NP, and removes a lot of personal pressure, and much guilt, I've been putting on myself for not getting the reports out. This helps releases the stress and helps refocus what I've love, the NP.
This is in part because the medical (back, infections, etc.) and financial (it's $50 in gas round trip for my VW van) issues have not allowed me to get to the NP in a few years, hence the guilt. I can see Mt. Rainier from my home office, but just haven't gone.
Anyway, the point is I'm getting back to the work, albeit in increments, but enough to feel a lot better about the progress and the future. There's lots to do (see plans at end of table of contents), and I'm making progress again.
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