- Map: Political/Street Planning Your Trip - Orientation - When to Go - Statistics - Getting There - How to Visit - Activities - Park Information - Lodging - Related Links

Main Menu > Mount Rainier National Park > Also Nearby The Northwest Corner: Carbon River 5 miles inside park boundary (8 Kilometers) | A half day This Excursion Comes From ... National Geographic's Guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail For more National Geographic travel guides—from Europe to Antarctica and everywhere in between—visit National Geographic Books >> Call the park’s visitor center for status before attempting this drive, as the road often washes out. To visit a rare inland temperate rain forest and peer at a glacier, take the Carbon River Road (it forks left off Washington Hwy. 165 about 6 miles [10 kilometers] past Wilkeson). Unpaved inside the park, the road is passable for ordinary cars. Stop at the entrance to take the self-guided Carbon River Rain Forest Trail, a 0.5-mile [0.8-kilometer] loop among colossal Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, and western red cedar. Drive to the parking lot at Ipsut Creek Campground. If you’re up to a 7-mile [11.3-kilometer] round-trip hike with a short, moderately steep climb, take the Carbon Glacier Trail. Bear right at first fork, left at second, then cross the swinging bridge over the river and continue on to the glistening glacier. Don’t get close: Boulders continually tumble off the glacier’s snout. More Recommendations for Mount Rainier National Park