A small lenticular cloud hovers over Mount Rainier.
This year’s low snowpack has allowed for some parts of Mount Rainier National Park and the Mount Saint Helens National Monument to be opened earlier than normal.
The White River Road to the White River Campground in Mount Rainier National Park opened to the public last Friday. Last year, it opened May 23. It is a popular access point for climbers looking to do early season summits on the east side of the mountain.
Stevens Canyon Road to Snow Lake, from the junction with the Nisqually to Paradise Road, also opened last Friday. There is no access beyond Snow Lake due to road crews’ efforts to repair a section of the road that was damaged from a slide. On the east end of Stevens Canyon, the road is open to the Grove of the Patriarchs. Officials are targeting May 22 for a full opening.
Ricksecker Point below Paradise is open.
Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, snack bar and gift shop began daily operations last Saturday and will open regularly at 10 a.m.
The Mowich Lake Road opening is scheduled for May 22.
The road between White River and Sunrise is still closed, and snow removal work is ongoing. Still, this area is scheduled to open June 5, nearly a month ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway to Johnston Ridge on Mount St. Helens has reopened.
Road crews opened the road on Friday, thanks to an unseasonably mild winter.
Washington Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Treece says the two-story high snow drifts that typically greet maintenance crews along state Route 504 near Mount St. Helens never materialized.
The road that leads to the Johnston Ridge Observatory closes at Coldwater Lake in late fall in most years. But a lack of snow meant crews were able to make repairs to the road and clear debris from slides.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the eruption on May 18, 1980 that killed 57 people, flattened a vast expanse of forest and sent a cloud of ash around the world.
