SECTION FIVE.
Pages 1 to 12.
mim
Automobile and
Highwa v New
VOL. XXXVIII.
PORTLAND, OKEGOX, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1919.
NO. 28.
TO MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK IN A CHEVROLET GAR
Koad Open and in Fine Condition to Narada Falls, Four Miles From. Paradise Valley,, and to Be Open Best of Way-About July 15.
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BY L. II. GREGORT.
CO another to your list of motor
ing tours for this summer. Mount
Rainier National park Is open
and the roads to and within It la fine
condition.
Let Calif ornlans praise their Tosem
tte and rlobe trotters discuss the
Alps. Until they have visited Mount
Ranter National park they know not
the fullness of the earth's wonders. If
people generally realised what is to be
seen there and enjoyed, the great park
wouldn't be large enough to hold the
throngs that would come.
But this is nowise an article de
srrtptive of the scenery in Mount
Rainier National park. To the con
trary, an account of how to get there
aad of road conditions en route and
within the park, for the guidance
motorists desiring to make the trip.
juagtng irom Inquiries already re.
cetved. tneir number will be great thi
year.
It was because of this early flood of
Inquiries as to :he psrk that the writer,
with Arthur L. Fields of the Fields
Motor Car company, made the run last
week In a Chevrolet to obtain full
formation and log the route
In a ad Oat Agala.
We had been to the races at Tacoma
en July 4 and there seen Louis Cher
rolet. Cliff Dursnt. Ralph 11 ul ford
Kddie Hearne and Dm no Resta thrill
with their speed driving. On the re.
turn tne opportunity to run over to
Mount Rainier National park waa too
good to miss. 80 Fields pointed thi
Chevrolet out Pacific avenue in Ta
coma that morning, and by noon we
were in the park.
It was only a hurried visit In and
out again the same day. and half way
to Portland that night but even so. a
never-io-o-iorgoiien experience.
When you drive to the park, make a
point of taking plenty of time to It.
Plan to drive leisurely and star a week
or so when you get there. Sights there
are on the way. long before you even
enter the park after which It's ail
view that you will feel you could
watch unwearied for hours on end.
Yet if the trip must be made In a
hurry, your guest, say. having only the
ay or two to spare for the tour, it can
be dona and si ill be worth the while.
That is one of the' beauties of this
tour the scressibility of Mount
Rainier National park.
Thereto at present it has the d-
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iilTi " "?? 'l"""y glacier, which ta eight sallea from Paradise Valley by road but only a mile and a half by trail. The Nlaqnally river springs full-limbed out of the foot of the
- e fcrMsre at Ateqaally rheekiag statloa. from which point one-way travel only la permitted to -ard falls, the next stopping point en route to Paradise Valley. Cars up-bound are
TJJJ "e J"""" charge natu the last of each atrtng of eat-bonnd cars sent down by the ranger at narada falls has safely arrived. Note the cars across the bridge waltlnK for the word to
T , . ? ' forest near areda falls a bnra of years age. Bnt.most of the fine road ta the park passes through dense forests of living timber. 4 The one-way road from Nlsqually
fil JVi" r"T. "' .f he ",de "f " "aln. with net maen room to spare In places like this. Hundreds of feet below rushes the Nlsqually river. 5 Introducing T. H. Mathews,
the raager at NUqaally checking station. Here's an attractive bridge in the park, with the Chevrolet in the background.
vantage over our own Mount Hood
region, almost as richly endowed a
wonderland, but whose noblest won
ders sre a yet unsung because not ac
cessible. The region of Mount Rainier
with humblest apologies to Tacoma
haa been a national p-fc tinner st
reet government n perv isi.m sinrt I !.
Tlie lme roaJa, the trails, the hotels
and camping grounds are an example
of what the government can do In de
velopment of a park like this when It
seta its mind to it
Mount Hood's turn Is coming. The
building of the government loop road
round it. hy wsy of Government Camp
and Hood River, to he completed next
year, is the first siey.
Though Mount Rainier national park
and all its fine hotels are open. Includ
ing Paradise Inn, automobiles at this
writing cannot -reach Paradise valley
because of snow on the last four-mile
leg, between Narada Falls and the val
ley, of the climb to that beautiful
spot. This makes Narada Falls the ,
present temporary terminus of auto
mobile travel. -
But by July IS, which is next Tues
day, so the park rangers Informed us,
they expect to have the last of the
snow shoveled off and theroad open
all the way to Paradise valley.
.Crews of men were then working
to clear away the snow. Three weeks
ago there was .30 feet of It bn- the
road in many places, above Narada
Falls. This had been reduced last week
to eight feet. So even If-the road is
not open exactly on schedule by July
15 it seems safe to say that persons
driving -there .this, week-end will find
the road open all the way to Paradise
Inn.
Narada Falls, at an elevation of 4500
feet -and 16 miles from the park en
trance, though four miles by road from
Paradise valley, is only a mile and a
half from it by mule and pack horse
trail. Tourists last week were parking
their cars at Narada under the efficient
protection of Claude Tice, ranger, in
charge, and traveling on foot or horse
back to Paradise . Inn. Supplies were
taken to the inn the same way.
This final four-mile stretch from
Narada Falls to Paradise - valley is
over a most remarkable new . road
hewn out of the mountains by the-government.
It loops and switchbacks over
itself as it climbs some 1000 feet In
four miles to Paradise valley, the' limit
of horse and motor travel. The grade
is nowhere greater than 4 per cent.
Perfect Gravel Road.
That, in fact. Is the heaviest grade
on the government road from the en
trance all the way to the valley, with
its 5551 feet . of elevation a great
achievement in- road building, . for no
road ever was built through: a wilder
country.
All the way from the park entrance
the road is as nearly perfect as a
gravel road, constantly maintained,
can be which means it is as good as
any paved boulevard. Always it climbs
through the deep forests, past water
falls, over torrents and skirting great
canyons, till It reaches the Nisqually
glacier checking station, about 12 miles
within the Park entrance, four miles
by road from Narada Falls and eight
m'les from Paradis Valley, though
only a mile and a quarter straight up
over the hills by horse trail to that
valley.
Here the cold brown snout of Nis
qually glacier juts down the canyon,
with the wild Nisqually river emerging
full grown from it. At the bridge
across the Nisqually at this point is
the Nisqually checking station, with
T. H. Mathews, ranger, in charge.
The road from Nisqually checking
station to Narada Falls climbs up the
hill on the other side of the canyon
on a ledge so narrow that , one-way
traffic only is permitted, ho cars
reaching Nisqually are held there by
the ranger until the road is clear
above, meaning until no other cars are
on the road between it and Narada
Falls.
This the rangers at the two stations
makie sure of by telephone. While
.(Cuntluded on Patfb S, Column 2.) .
r