Glacier Basin Trail

Starting from the White River Campground area, you'll follow an old mining road through dense forest before the canopy opens into some of Rainier's most photogenic subalpine meadows. The trail climbs steadily but never cruelly — think persistent grade rather than stairmaster. Around the halfway mark, wildflowers explode across the slopes in summer, and you'll likely spot mountain goats picking their way across rocky outcrops above you. The real prize comes if you take the spur trail to the Emmons Moraine overlook, where you're staring at the largest glacier in the contiguous United States — a river of ice that makes you feel appropriately small. This is a trail for hikers who want Rainier's grandeur without the crowds and permit headaches of the Wonderland Trail.