FAQ's

Mt. Rainier sits at the top of the Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. It is located in northwest Washington, and is about 61.4 miles southwest of Seattle.

Yes. Mt. Rainier is an active stratovolcano, and although scientists aren't entirely sure when the next eruption will be, they are monitoring closely for warning signs to help predict the next eruption.

Mt. Rainier has the largest glacier system in the continental United States, with over 28 named glaciers. Mt. Rainier is also a Decades volcano, one of 16 named volcanoes that are closely monitored due to proximity to major cities and history of explosive eruptions.

The short answer is that Mt. Rainier has a high potential to be dangerous - this is because its eruptions are often violent, and it  can cause landslides without an eruption event. However, that doesn't mean that it is constantly dangerous. The U.S. Geological Survey keeps close watch for such hazards, and so, generally speaking, Mt. Rainier is safe for its thousands of daily visitors.

Rock types that come from volcanoes are called igneous rocks. Many of the igneous rocks found on Mt. Rainier are high in a mineral called silica, also known as quartz, giving them a light grey or tan color. The most common of these rock types on Mt. Rainier are andesite (pictured above), dacite, and pumice. 

Mt. Rainier is part of a volcanic arc, a geologic formation that happens when one tectonic plate (huge, rigid sections of Earth's crust) runs into another plate and slides beneath it. As it slides (a process which takes millions of year), the edge of the plate underneath begins to melt, and the molten rock pushes up through weak spots in the plate on top, creating solitary volcanos. Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood are among the volcanoes created by the Juan de Fuca plate sliding under the North American plate.