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The Trail of the Shadows at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington gives visitors a good look into the history of the park. Located in the Longmire area, it’s a ¾ mile loop trail that starts across the street from the National Park Inn. It travels through the old James Longmire homestead, settled in 1883, 16 years before the park was established.
Start of the Trail
We did the trail in a clockwise direction, and started by crossing over a small creek and into the forest. The trees towered above our heads.
A few steps later, we came to a section inundated with water. In some places, it was bubbling up from the ground and the trees had died. This is the first evidence that there were hot springs in the area. We then continued through the forest, sometimes along a boardwalk.
We came to what looked like the remnants of a fountain or bath. It wasn’t labeled as well as the rest of the trail, so we weren’t 100% sure what it was.
Longmire Cabin
About halfway through the trail, we stumbled upon the last remaining cabin built by the Longmires. The family built several cabins in the 1880s to accommodate visitors to their hot springs resort. This specific cabin was built in 1888 and was very simple inside.
Hot Springs
After passing a section of Longmire Meadow, we came to an original hot spring bath built in 1920. It was supposed to be part of a new resort, but after tests determined the water had no medicinal value, plans were scrapped. The original resort, Longmire Medical Springs Resort, sat nearby. It was demolished in 1920 to make way for the new resort.
Further along, we came to a point where there was a good quantity of water bubbling up from the ground. We could even hear the sound of the bubbles and smell the sulphur.
Longmire Meadow
At the end of the Trail of the Shadows, there’s a viewpoint of Longmire Meadow with Mount Rainier in the background. The ridge to the left is an ancient volcanic lava flow called Rampart Ridge. The lava stopped when it reached two glaciers that were joined together. The glaciers on both sides of the ridge, once 1,200 feet high, melted to form meadows.
