Visitor center · Mount Rainier National Park
Permits and ranger advice in Longmire’s historic log-and-stone building.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Rainier Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Rainier National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Mount Rainier audio tourRecorded for this place
Longmire: A Museum, Mineral Springs and a Meal“You're nearing Longmire, the historic village that became park headquarters in eighteen ninety-nine.”
Plays as you drive up to Longmire Wilderness Information Center in the Parkwolf Mount Rainier Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The Longmire Wilderness Information Center is Mount Rainier’s seasonal wilderness desk, inside the two-story Longmire Administration Building. Wilderness rangers help with permits, route planning, maps, and trail-condition updates. A three-dimensional model of the park gives you a quick sense of how the mountain’s ridges and valleys fit together. If you’re heading into the backcountry, this is a useful stop while the desk is staffed.
The lower floor has glacial-boulder masonry and the upper story is covered in half-log veneer, a distinctive Park Service Rustic design. Those materials were chosen to help the building sit naturally among Longmire’s trees and rocks.
Longmire began as James Longmire’s homestead, lodging stop, and mineral-springs resort. When Mount Rainier became a national park in 1899, Longmire became its headquarters. The original 1916 headquarters building is now the Longmire Museum across the road, a separate stop from the WIC.
After your ranger stop, the self-guided historic-district walk and 0.7-mile Trail of the Shadows are nearby ways to see more of Longmire. Public restrooms are at the Longmire Plaza Comfort Station, and the National Park Inn has a separate restaurant and gift shop. Those are village amenities, not facilities inside the information center.
Wildlife
466 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
383 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
10 sightingsWolverineMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
58 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
574 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
1,853 sightingsHoary MarmotMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Rainier. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingWonderland Trail93 mi · 3.3 days · At the trailheadA strenuous 93-mile circuit around Mount Rainier.
ChallengingIndian Henry's Hunting Ground via Longmire13 mi · 8 hr · At the trailheadA long climb to historic meadows and Mount Rainier views.
EasyTrail of the Shadows0.7 mi · 30 min · 0.1 mi awayA short loop through Longmire’s springs and resort history
ModerateRampart Ridge Trail4.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.1 mi awayA steep forest climb to a Rainier and glacier view.
ChallengingEagle Peak Trail7.2 mi · 5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA steep forest climb earns a flowered saddle and Rainier views.
ModerateCarter and Madcap Falls Trail3 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.5 mi awayTwo waterfalls and old-growth forest beyond the Nisqually log bridge.
EasyTwin Firs Loop Trail0.4 mi · 20 min · 1.7 mi awayA short loop among Douglas-firs, cedars, and hemlocks.
ChallengingIndian Henry's Hunting Ground via Kautz Creek Trail11.5 mi · 7 hr · 2.3 mi awayA steep climb to a historic cabin in Rainier's wildflower meadows.
Sight · At the trailheadLongmire MuseumOne historic room, a mountain lion, and the park’s early story
Sight · 0.1 mi awayLongmire Transportation ExhibitRoad history told inside a landmark gas stationSight · 0.1 mi awayLongmire Service StationA 1929 roadside station turned into a park travel-history exhibit.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayLongmire Mineral SpringsRead the landscape through bubbles, mineral stains and a resort past.
Lodging · 0.1 mi awayNational Park InnYear-round historic lodging in Longmire with a porch view of Rainier.
Store · 0.1 mi awayLongmire General StoreA 1911 log shop for snacks and trail supplies.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayElcaine Longmire CabinA small 1888 cabin from Longmire’s early settlement.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayNisqually Suspension BridgeA historic timber bridge over the Nisqually, with Rainier in view.Parkwolf’s Mount Rainier ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
