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Gobblers Knob
Gobblers Knob on the park's western boundary provides an overall view of the great bulk of Mount Rainier. At an elevation of 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier is the highest peak in the Pacific Northwest. A conspicuous landmark in the Pacific Rim of Fire, Mount Rainier is a half-million year old active stratovolcano. Lava flows and tephra (airborne lava fragments) eruptions have built up the gigantic cone, while glaciers, landslides, and debris flows have continually carved its face.
Eruptions are exciting but pose only one type of threat to park visitors and neighbors. Repeated landslides are likely the most destructive hazard. A giant landslide occurred 5700 years ago on the eastern side of the Mountain. Nearly 2000 feet of the old mountain top collapsed and formed a debris flow, now called the Osceola Mudflow, which rushed down the White River valley, burying villages and old-growth forests in the Puget Lowlands.
In the last 2000 to 2500 years, lava flows and tephra eruptions occurred in the collapse crater left by the Osceola Mudflow and built the new summit cone. Small tephra eruptions have been observed as recently as the 1840s. Volcanologists continue to study the mountain to help predict effects of future volcanic hazards. New knowledge may help to mitigate risk to human life and property in heavily populated areas surrounding the volcano.