Mt Ranier parking questions

Old Jul 30th, 2014, 03:42 PM
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Mt Ranier parking questions

Hello again. Another question about Mt Ranier. I am arriving on Labor Day weekend. I hear the parking is awful in the popular areas. We are wanting to go to Box Canyon and also Grove of the Patriachs early afternoon. Are these places impossible to park at or are the parking lots large? I'd rather not drive 45 minutes from Paradise and then not find parking. Also, we are staying at the Paradise Inn and I thought we would have a guest parking spot, but apparently they don't have enough guest parking for all the rooms so we may have to compete with the day visitors for parking. Has anyone just not been able to find a spot anywhere at Paradise? I'm being told if both lots are full I can park on the Paradise loop road if need be and walk a half mile. That's ridiculous but at least I'd get to my room eventually. My fear is to drive back to my room at Paradise in the mid afternoon after a long hike and not have anywhere to park, not even the loop road. Has anyone had this experience? It's hard to understand the logistics not having heen here before.
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 04:57 PM
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The loop road goes on for 4 miles-I saw people parked all along it this past weekend. I think the parking may go as long as 2 miles. Even 1/2 mile trek is going to be a doozy, in my opinion-it's uphill. I think trying to find parking between 10AM and 5PM would be the hardest times. I have been there twice and have gone in and out and managed to find parking at a decent spot. However, I have always been looking early or late. It's a zoo mid-day there.

I think you will be ok at most other places for parking. I don't know how much more crowded it is on a major holiday.
Maybe have an early dinner @ 530 and do a late hike at Bench/Snow.

BTW, there is another little cafe in Paradise Inn besides the Main Dining and the Cafeteria that is next door in the Visitor Center. It opens at 6AM and serves good coffee, latte, etc. Has a few pastries, cereal, and breakfast sandwiches. The National Park Service and the Lodge don't really mention it.
Also, the cafeteria in the Visitor Center is pretty darn good for park food. Of course, the main dining room is the best food. Frankly, I don't really care for their breakfast buffet. I had intended on doing the Sunday Brunch on both trips , but we decided not to for some reason.
The main dining room stops accepting people at 830PM.
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 06:00 PM
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I pretty much can't believe I wouldn't be able to get back to my room whenever I want to. I called the Paradise Inn and they reassured me I wouldn't be caught without any way to park at all, I think I'll call back and talk to a manager about it. They simply can't expect guests to walk miles uphill back to their room, can they?
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 06:26 PM
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Yes, the weekends get busy, especially if it is a nice weekend. This weekend was busier than usual. It was beautiful, but also people were avoiding other areas of the state for hiking due to fires, so Rainier was busier than usual. We had planned to be there, but knew with all the circumstances to avoid it like the plague so changed our plans and headed elsewhere. DH has done a lot of climbing and hiking there, and while it can be busy, has never had an issue with not finding a spot to park.
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 06:48 PM
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The parking lot at Grove of the Patriarchs is not huge. Maybe space for 20 cars? But it is not a long hike so turnover is probably fairly quick I would guess.

I was there on the 4th of July around 11am or so. The lot was full at that time but there were no cars lined up along the roadway (yet). I just went up the road (west) and around the corner there was space for I'd say 5-6 cars to park right before a bridge. I think that space is primarily for people to park, walk up to the bridge and check out the river or waterfall but I just walked back to the Grove. It was not far, maybe a 2 minute walk to the Grove parking lot.

I will say that by the time I finished the hike, there were people parking along the roadway and only 1 or 2 cars where I was parked. I remember that irritating me because it was so much safer to park by the bridge but several cars didn't feel like making that 2 minute walk.

I can't give you and advice about Box Canyon or Paradise, I didn't go to either area.
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 07:10 PM
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Thanks for the replies. I think the best plan might be, weather permitting of course, to not try to park at Paradise on our arrival day until 3:30 or so. We arrive at the airport at 10, figure I'll be at Paradise around 1 or 2 with stops and traffic. Maybe we'll drive out to Box Canyon and see that, stop at Inspiration point, take our time, not sure if we'll make it to Grove of the Patriarchs, but I would think people will start to go home around 4. Then we can hike Myrtle Falls and Nisquilly before dinner. Next day head for Reflection Lakes for photos and then hike Bench/Snow Lake, getting to the trailhead by 9, and be back at Paradise by noon, and hopefully parking won't be as bad as a few hours later. Spend the afternoon in Paradise hiking maybe Alta Vista and or Glacier View. What do you think? Weather could blow that all apart though. If we have to be paranoid about parking we may need to miss Grove of the Patriarchs, which is sad but we are so close to the Yosemite and Sequoia and have experienced Old growth forests, so I hope it will be okay to miss it.
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Old Jul 30th, 2014, 07:17 PM
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Or actually, it I am going to do that, should I enter the park from the Ohanapecosh entrance? Then I can go past the Grive, Box Canyon, etc to get to Paradise. Look like it is roughly the same time to get from Seattle to Ohanapecosh as to Paradise? Plus about 45 minutes from there to Paradise? Do I have that right?
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 07:46 AM
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You're kidding right? They expect senior citizens staying at their hotel (already 4 flights w/no elevator) to walk uphill from a road somewhere with their luggage?
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 08:00 AM
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My recollection is that there is dedicated parking for overnight hotel guests, and there won't be any problem with off-loading bags at the hotel (leave with the bellman if nothing else) before heading out.

We stopped at the Paradise Inn on Labor Day a couple of years ago, and while the parking area was quite full, it wasn't completely blocked.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 09:18 AM
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Well, the problem is they have dedicated spots but there are more hotel rooms than there are designated spots, so the designated lot is generally full. The first person I spoke with at Paradise Inn yesterday did tell me that even as a guest I may need to park on the road if all lots were full and walk back to the hotel, she said up to a half mile. I freaked out when the poster above said that road was parked up for miles and was uphill. Paradise Inn did say they would let us unload luggage first. But I couldnt believe the situation either and spoke to someone else today, who said they've never had a guest have to do walk from the road like that and they would find parking for paying guests if the lots were full. So I feel better after talking with that person today. I'm going to stop overthinking this and just see what happens. I guess I'm comparing this to Yosemite in the summer, I've been unable to park at Yosemite Lodge in the middle of the day and they recommended parking in another section of the park which was very annoying, but at least they had the shuttle buses to get back to the hotel. And of course I've been unable to drive into Yosemite when it is so crowded they close the gate temporarily. So I'm comparing to that. Sounds like it won't be that bad, I don't care if it's crowded and a hassle, we knew that when we had to choose Labor Day weekend, but the set-up as I was told it yesterday was really unacceptable. Sounds better today.
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Old Aug 1st, 2014, 03:42 AM
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I would say that is a fair comparison. Yosemite Valley, Zion Lodge, Old Faithful area, Paradise. All of these can get very crowded. I did experience a traffic jam of about 30 minutes. It reminded me of Yosemite during that 30 minutes. HOwever, not nearly as bad as Yosemite.
I do think your overthinking this and I don't think it will be that big of a deal. We really enjoyed ourselves. BTW, we didn't ever wait more than 10 minutes to eat at any location.
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Old Aug 1st, 2014, 05:32 AM
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That's good news about no long waits for dinner, I was wondering about that. Yup, I'll go with the flow, can't wait for Labor Day!
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