Day hiking at Mount Rainier
The Boston Globe
June 20, 2015

Flying into Seattle, you can’t miss it. Bulging, white-capped Mount Rainier looms larger than any mountain I’ve ever seen. The peaks of New England are child’s play compared with this 14,410-footer. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington stands 6,288 feet, and has a sort of gradual build to it seen from a distance. Rainier thrusts upward all at once, a lonesome peak hiding its deep secret: It’s a volcano.

The last time Mount Rainier erupted was in the late 1800s, and because of its vast glaciers and potential for mudflows, another eruption would devastate the surrounding area, where some 150,000 people live. Experts keep a close watch; there are about five recorded earthquakes per month at the top…. [FULL STORY]