Mt. Rainier regulations

Mt. Rainier seems set on noonish openings when they open; today the twitter said 10 a.m. at 10:12 a.m. and there were lots of official vehicles in the Paradise lot, no new snow overnight, so I decided to go, but they didn't open the gate until 11:15 and they forgot the most important sign:



They have more than 4,000 signs in the park, according to Supt. King, so maybe no room for this one (or the one I suggested: Share the Road w deer, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and truck symbols to replace the chains signs in the summer).

Great photo, Andy, thanks for the laugh!

More than brains are apparently required when descending from Paradise when chains are required.  Mind reading is also useful in order to know where the chain requirement ends, since the Park Service never marks that location.  Later in the winter, the chain-up location commonly moves uphill during the day or sometimes the chain requirement is dropped completely when the pavement melts out on warm day, but downhill traffic has no way to know that.  Similarly, visitors who arrived at Longmire from the Nisqually entrance without chains being required have no notification descending from Longmire when the chain-up location has been moved down to the entrance. 

I've made this suggestion for fifteen years and nothing is ever done.  This is a relatively small problem, but seems symptomatic of the dysfunction of the modern NPS.  In the good old days the rangers had a sawhorse barricade with a sign:  "End Chain Requirement", that they would move around as necessary.  Now it would probably take a million dollars worth of programable signs and five years of planning and consultation at the Regional Office to effect any change. 

I wonder what is the criteria for chains being required, anyway?  How would the rangers even know, since they all drive AWD/4WD?  It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the person making the daily call has never put on chains in their life?  I'd bet money they've never immobilized their vehicle on a blind curve because the chain broke from being required on mostly bare pavement and wrapped the drive line or cut the brake line.   

My owners manual says to not put on chains on my AWD Subaru Outback 2013 I feel cheated.

My owners manual says to not put on chains on my AWD Subaru Outback 2013 I feel cheated.

So does mine; you still have to have chains in the car to get to Paradise. You can buy low profile chains to fit the Subaru and run them without damaging the wheel wells; but you have to turn off the "smart" AWD and just go to AWD.

My owners manual says to not put on chains on my AWD Subaru Outback 2013 I feel cheated.

Same deal with my quattro. But I keep a set in the back anyway to meet the checkbox. Plus, if I really had to mount them over my Blizzaks for some end-of-the-world reason, they are actually usable (low profile cables).

Chains? Damn. What I need to put chains on for when I still gotta wait til noon for the road to be perfectly plowed? Good snowtires and a bucket of common sense is all it takes especially on a perfectly plowed road.