Trace Collins

Exploring the world around me, inspiring others with what I find, and creating a lasting impact.

Founder of TRACE, Inc. & TRACE Foundation.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Finding Truth. Creating impact.
Explore. Find. Document. Impact.
Real People. Real places. Real stories.

TRACE goes where the story is. We explore remote places, find what's been overlooked, document it honestly, and turn it into impact.

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[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@carlprothman It should, I hope, hold out for you for a few more weeks. Looking forward to seeing your sunrise shots you take!

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier National Park. Winter showed up early this week. The gate at Longmire closed last night and the road to Paradise is not expected to open today. The National Weather Service has snow at Paradise all day, 5 to 9 inches more with a high near 30, and rain and snow at Longmire.

Roads: The Nisqually Entrance to Longmire is open, and it's the only way to drive into the park in winter. Paradise Valley, Ricksecker Point, Stevens Canyon, Sunrise and White River Roads are closed for the season. Chinook Pass (SR 410) and Cayuse Pass (SR 123) are open but expected to close in mid- to late November. There's no access to Carbon River or Mowich Lake from SR 165 while the Fairfax Bridge is closed. From Nov. 1, every vehicle in the park must carry tire chains, four-wheel drive included.

Trails: The Wonderland Complex fires on the north side are still burning and expected to burn until they go out naturally. The Grand Park trails, the Northern Loop Trail and the Wonderland Trail from Carbon River Suspension Bridge to White River Campground are closed. The Grove of the Patriarchs stays closed until its flood-damaged suspension bridge is replaced, and the Summerland trailhead is closed at the Fryingpan Creek Bridge construction.

Camping and fees: Cougar Rock and White River campgrounds are closed for the season, and Ohanapecosh is closed all year for rehabilitation. There's no vehicle camping anywhere in the park in winter, and winter camping at Paradise waits for at least five feet of snow. Entrance is $30 per vehicle for 7 days.

Best hike: Skyline Trail loop from Paradise, 5.5 miles round trip, 1,700 feet of gain, about 4.5 hours, strenuous. It's known for wildflower meadows, a close look at the Nisqually Glacier, and on a clear day, views south to Oregon's Mount Hood from Panorama Point. Tip: hike it clockwise and take the High Skyline Trail past Panorama Point to skip an icy slope. Once snow covers it, call the Longmire Information Center first.

TRACE take: This is the week Rainier flips to winter. If you're going, check the park's alerts for the Longmire gate before you drive, pack chains now, and keep the Trail of the Shadows loop at Longmire in your back pocket for days when Paradise is closed.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@carlprothman Sunrise for me, when the first light hits the east side. Little Tipsoo is right off Chinook Pass, and that road is expected to close for the season in mid- to late November, so there are only a few weeks left to get that shot this year.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@wsdot_tacoma @MountRainierNPS @PierceTransit @wsdot Thanks for getting that done before winter. SR 706 leads to the Nisqually Entrance, the only way to drive into Mount Rainier National Park once the snow closes everything else.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@manuelacasasoli Lathrop is one of the few trails that drops off the Island in the Sky mesa toward the White Rim.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@Interior Crater Lake is one of his five, and it's still the deepest lake in the country at 1,943 feet. No rivers flow into it. It's filled almost entirely by rain and snow.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@NatlParkService One of his five, Mesa Verde, was the first national park set aside to protect the work of people rather than nature: the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans. Still one of the most striking places in the whole system.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@WeatherNation And it's still coming. The road from Longmire up to Paradise is gated today, with 5 to 9 more inches forecast there and a high near 30. Starting Nov. 1, every car in the park has to carry chains.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Fall color in the meadows at Paradise, on the mountain's south side, near the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center. Best viewpoint: Myrtle Falls, a short walk up the paved Skyline Trail from the Paradise parking lot, where Edith Creek drops into a gorge with the summit right behind it. The meadows got their name when an early visitor saw the wildflowers and said, "This must be called Paradise!" This week it's snow country again: the road up from Longmire is closed today for the storm.
Photos: Sergei Akulich, Paradise in fall; NPS, Myrtle Falls

Read the history of Mount Rainier in my #4 of 64 Mount Rainier article: https://t.co/C7hAVdCkJ3

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier https://t.co/4xNMFTqEo2

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

1. The summit wearing a cloud cap above the snow at Paradise. Photo: Steve Redman, NPS
2. Narada Falls on the Paradise River, with a rainbow in the spray, right off the road between Longmire and Paradise. Photo: Emily Brouwer, NPS
3. Tipsoo Lake and Naches Peak near Chinook Pass, on the park's east side. Photo: Steve Redman, NPS
4. Clouds filling the valleys below Sunrise Point. Photo: Emily Brouwer, NPS
Reply photo: Reflection Lake in fall. Photo: Vulturesong

Read the history of Mount Rainier in my #4 of 64 Mount Rainier article: https://t.co/C7hAVdCkJ3

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier https://t.co/4xNMFTqEo2

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier National Park

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier quick facts:
-Became a national park: 1899, the fifth in the country, and the first carved from land already set aside as a forest reserve.
-Known for: A 14,410-foot volcano and the most glaciated peak in the lower 48, with wildflower meadows at Paradise and Sunrise and old-growth forest at its base. About 97% of the park is designated wilderness. People come to hike, climb the summit, backpack the 93-mile Wonderland Trail around the mountain, photograph the wildflowers, and snowshoe and sled at Paradise in winter.
-Seasonal closures: Sunrise, Stevens Canyon and most park roads close for winter. Paradise stays reachable from Longmire, but the gate closes overnight and in storms. Chinook and Cayuse Passes close for winter, usually in November.
Best time to visit: Late July and August for wildflowers, September for fall color and fewer people, and winter for snowshoeing at Paradise.
-Tip: Check the park's Alerts page for the daily Longmire gate status.
-Sources: NPS Mount Rainier alerts, road status, hours, winter recreation and Skyline Trail pages
Photo: Vulturesong CC0, view from the Skyline Trail
https://t.co/iYD8lIDilE
National Park Service (alerts, road status, conditions, Skyline Trail, winter recreation, fees), National Weather Service
https://t.co/05SBtW0wac

Read the history of Mount Rainier in my #4 of 64 Mount Rainier article: https://t.co/C7hAVdCkJ3

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier https://t.co/4xNMFTqEo2

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Sources: Washington's National Park Fund, Funded Projects https://t.co/uRJTYv83fs
WNPF, Resilience in Action (record grants, Meadow Rover radios) https://t.co/X0JuxoMdFR
WNPF, Mount Rainier National Park (visitation) https://t.co/CfexH3U91h
NPS, Fryingpan Creek Bridge and Grove of the Patriarchs updates https://t.co/05SBtW0wac
Support Washington's National Park Fund: https://t.co/XZqlF1Ww49
Reply photo: A park trail crew at work. Photo: Loren Lane, NPS

Read the history of Mount Rainier in my #4 of 64 Mount Rainier article: https://t.co/C7hAVdCkJ3

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier https://t.co/4xNMFTqEo2

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier National Park. About 1.6 million people visited last year, and a lot of the work that keeps the trails and meadows in shape is paid for by donors.

Washington's National Park Fund, the official philanthropic partner of Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic, gave a record $2.28 million in grants this year for more than 40 projects across the three parks. At Rainier, this year's list includes Wonderland and backcountry trail work, a trails partnership with the Washington Trails Association, a Young Adult Conservation Corps crew, and a project to restore meadow at Paradise.

Donors also bought a dozen new radios for the park's volunteer Meadow Rovers, who talk with more than 200,000 visitors, at a time when the park is short on staff.

Bigger fixes are coming too. Crews started replacing the Fryingpan Creek Bridge on the White River Road this fall, a multiyear job, and the park is planning a new suspension bridge to reopen the Grove of the Patriarchs, closed since floods wrecked the old one.

TRACE take: Every stone step and replanted patch of meadow up there is somebody's work. Stay on the marked trails at Paradise, and if Rainier means something to you, the Fund is a direct way to help.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

Mount Rainier https://t.co/4xNMFTqEo2

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@BearGrylls Head first down 150 feet is a big ask for anyone.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@KeithManleyjr Kit Carson was with Frémont on that winter crossing, and Carson Pass on Highway 88 is named for him.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@RuralCounties @countyofmono Hot Creek is one of the strangest spots in the Eastern Sierra. The water is heated by the Long Valley Caldera, and swimming has been banned for years because it can suddenly boil up. Gorgeous shot from Jack Walsh.

[Trace Collins @TRACE_]

@YellowstoneNPS @ynpforever The geyser stencil plus a little dry ice inside would make the best Old Faithful pumpkin on the block. Bonus points if it erupts about every 90 minutes.