By Alex Day, Marketing & Communications Director
Close to two million people visit Mount Rainier National Park each year, and many of them experience it from one of the park’s many trails. Those paths wind through wildflower meadows, across log bridges over glacier-fed rivers, and up to some of the most breathtaking views in the Pacific Northwest. Keeping them safe and passable takes an extraordinary amount of work, and innovative partnerships are what makes it all possible.
For years, Mount Rainier National Park and the Washington Trails Association (WTA) have worked side by side to care for these trails. WTA has been a fixture at Mount Rainier since 1998, organizing more than 800 trail maintenance events and logging over 90,000 volunteer hours in the park.
Contributions from Washington’s National Park Fund have supported this partnership, helping fund dedicated WTA crew leaders based at Mount Rainier (housing, a work vehicle, and a park radio included), along with logistical support for Volunteer Vacations and Backcountry Response Teams.
The results add up. In 2025, 265 WTA volunteers gave 3,656 hours to the park across 18 different events organized in partnership with Mount Rainier National Park Trails staff. On the West Boundary Trail, they rebuilt two bridges, cleared 1.5 miles of vegetation, and regraded more than a mile of tread, restoring these sections of trail to good condition and reconnecting the trail to more trails in the park. That volunteer time is worth an extraordinary amount, estimated at $127,000 in service to the park.
The scale of the work comes into focus when you look at the trail system itself. Mount Rainier has 70 trails covering nearly 280 miles. The Skyline Trail is the busiest, drawing more than 100,000 visitors a year, while the Wonderland Trail is the longest, wrapping 93 miles around the mountain.
It takes serious people power to maintain all of it. Each year, about 25 seasonal National Park Service staff contribute nearly 26,000 hours of trail maintenance, 650 volunteers add nearly 7,000 more hours, and around 100 youth corps members contribute 10,000 hours. Together, they help keep one of the most-loved trail systems in the country open for everyone to experience.
This season, the partnership is focused on improving trail networks by restoring the Grindstone Trail to the park’s trail system. To date, WTA crews have helped brush and regrade almost two miles of trail and have begun a 1,300-foot re-route, which they hope to complete by season’s end.
The season still has several weeks to go, but already the impact is impressive: so far this year, more than 70 volunteers have contributed 1,704 hours of work (an estimated $62,000 in value to the park).
Interested in getting out there with WTA? There’s still time! View upcoming WTA Work Parties at wta.org/volunteer.
This partnership is about more than tread and drainage. It’s also about growing the number of people who experience the park in ways that inspire them to care for it.
Volunteering on a WTA work party gives people a rare chance to connect with one another, with the park in new ways, and with the landscape they are helping to protect. For many participants, it’s a first taste of trail work. For some, it’s a first camping trip. But for all, it’s a lasting reminder of what makes Mount Rainier special and worth protecting.
And for those of us who cherish the memories we’ve made on Mount Rainier’s trails, we appreciate their contribution beyond measure.
Washington’s National Park Fund is the official philanthropic partner of Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks. Through donor support, we fund critical park projects that protect wildlife, preserve ecosystems, and enhance visitor experiences. Your donations help ensure these iconic landscapes remain for generations to come. Ready to help build the next mile? Join us in making an impact today at wnpf.org/donate.
Cover photo: WTA volunteers at Mowich on a Volunteer Vacation, by Allison Silsbee/WTA