Camp Muir, named for the naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

, is a high-altitude refuge for climbers in

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, accessed through the Paradise Entrance. The shelters comprising the camp are situated at a elevation between the

Muir Snowfield "Muir" is the Scots word for "moorland", and Scots Gaelic for "sea", and is the etymological origin of the surname and Clan Muir/Mure/Moore in Scotland and other parts of the world. Places United States * Muir, Willits, California, a former unin ...

and the

Cowlitz Glacier The Cowlitz Glacier is on the southeast flank of Mount Rainier in the U.S. state of Washington. The body of ice covers and has a volume of 6 billion ft3 (170 million m3). The glacier starts at an elevation of and flows southeast. An adjacent gl ...

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

. Camp Muir is the most-used high camp for those attempting to climb to the mountain's summit. Camp Muir is between the Nisqually and Paradise Glaciers.

The larger "public" shelter hut was built in 1921 to plans supervised by

Daniel Ray Hull Daniel Ray Hull (1890–1964), sometimes stated Daniel P. Hull, was an American landscape architect who was responsible for much of the early planning of the built environment the national parks of the United States during the 1920s. Hull planned t ...

of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. The by single-story one-room shelter was initially constructed of dry-laid stone. It replaced a smaller shelter which was used as a shelter for climbing guides. A dedication plaque at the entrance to the large shelter plaque reads "Erected in memory of John Muir, 1921." The guide shelter was built in 1916 by a climbing organization, the Mountaineers. It was designed by Seattle architect Carl F. Gould, a member of the Mountaineers and was approved by Park Service director

Stephen T. Mather Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park Service. As president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company he became a million ...

. The single-story guide shelter measures about by , and is the oldest stone structure in the park. Two stone pit toilets were built at Camp Muir in 1936 by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

, one of which survives and is used for storage. There are 12 approaches to the summit from

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

. Camp Muir provides 7 of those. Of the 7, 4 are grade II, 2 are grade III, and 1 is grade II-III.Mike Gauthier, Mount Rainier: A Climbing Guide, The Mountaineers Books, Camp Muir was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on March 13, 1991. It is part of the Mount Rainier

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, which encompasses the entire park and which recognizes the park's inventory of Park Service-designed rustic architecture.

References

Buildings and structures in Pierce County, Washington Rustic architecture in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Mount Rainier National Park Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Mount Rainier National Park John Muir {{Washington-NRHP-stub