April 21, 2005 query re: Longmire to Paradise road

A question for those who ski down there a lot: the MRNP web page now lists 9-5 as open hours. However, spring is here and early starts beckon. Based on your experience, in the absence of an unlikely big dump, is the road basically open 24/7 these days? If not, around when would people say the road realistically opens? Sorry for this basic question but its kind of a long drive for me and I don't usually get down there this "early".

If you call 360-569-2211 and hit zero, it will conect you to the park operator (usually the Lonmire Visitor Center)and they will give you current status.<br>Normally they don't open it 24/7 until closer to Memorial day...but this year I'm sure it will be earlier.

I usually call the PS communications center if the (weather and roads) recordings are not up yet for the day or if I want to query someone about information that is not covered on the recordings. Same # as Sam suggests, then Ext. 2334. For all I know dialing O takes you to the same folks, I'm not sure. But the folks at communications are the ones who do the recorded messages and also communicate with the road crews so they usually have the latest skinny on things.<br><br>As Sam points out, they are still closing the road at night. Last Sunday the gate was open by 8:00 according to the recording and we sailed right thru about 8:30. If they have any snow on the road from the night before they usually do not seem to get it open before 9:00.

This past Sunday (4/17) there was a sign posted by the Paradise visitor center that stated that the gate at Longmire would be closed and locked each evening at 8:30 p.m. If for some reason you get locked into the park, Amar told us that it's fairly easy to get someone to come and unlock the gate so you can get out, maybe he might be able to give a little more insight on this.

It seems to me that the road is open full time by the time the Stevens Canyon road opens. Which is probably next week according to the Mt Rainier web site.

Is it possible to camp overnight in the Paradise Parking Lot, or do they shoo cars out of there?<br><br>Peter

They seem to shoo cars out, Peter, unless they're parked in one of the two designated overnight parking areas, apparently presuming the cars in the designated overnight areas belong to folks posessing climbing or camping permits.<br>According to MRNP Rangers there's no car camping allowed at Paradise, or anywhere else in the Park except the designated campgrounds, most of which are closed right now... closest one open to Paradise is Sunshine point. You can get a permit to camp on the snow near Paradise, as long as there's at least 5 ft of snow on the ground, until May 1, after which time the "summer rules" are in effect. That seems to mean no more snow camping at Paradise, no matter how deep the snowpack is, until the next winter.<br><br>Gotta love it, eh?<br>