Last updated: July 27, 2022
Place
Inspiration Point Exhibit Panel
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Stevens Canyon Road, approximately 0.5 miles east from the Paradise Road wye.
Amenities
3 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot
Title: Inspired to Preserve
Main Text
Since the early 1900s people have parked at this site to get an exceptional view of Mount Rainier. The park road was designed to harmonize with the landscape and take advantage of spectacular vistas like this one.
The surrounding scenery has the power to inspire. In the timeless presence of the mountain, people have been motivated to explore, to recreate, to connect with our heritage, and to fight for the preservation of wilderness. The view - and others like it - have inspired a deep and lasting commitment to protect the park and keep it in its original, pristine state.
Secondary Text
"To foresee the beauty of Mount Rainier one must know many things - rivers, tumbling from boulder to boulder... a tiny fawn nestling under a shrub... flower fields that stretch unending distances... glaciers grinding and tearing at the high mound of rock... And of men who were drawn to this mountain as surely as if a great magnet has pulled them. All of these things are separate, but all are a part of the story of Mount Rainier. "
- John Barnett, former park naturalist, 1978
Exhibit Panel Description
A single photo of Mount Rainier fills the exhibit panel. The view of the mountain is hazy, blending into the blue sky. White glaciers curl down the mountain slopes from the summit. The main text overlays the sky over the mountain's left shoulder, while the text of the quote covers the mountain's lower slopes in the bottom left of the exhibit panel. A second photo at a slight angle covers the right side of the panel. The photo is black and white and shows a dirt road curving along a steep rocky slope in front of a forested hillside and the same view of Mount Rainier as pictured in the main photo. An early-model historic car drives down the road. A caption under the photo reads, "New park road near Inspiration Point, 1920s". A small box in the lower right corner of the panel reads "User Fee Project. Your Fee Dollars at Work. Entrance fees were used to produce this exhibit".
Visit This Exhibit Panel
The Inspiration Point exhibit panel is located on a low rock wall at the edge of a pull out along Stevens Canyon Road. The wayside looks northwest towards the Mount Rainier and overlooks the Paradise River valley. Stevens Canyon Road is open to vehicles during the summer, typically from June-October.