Explore Pack Forest
Pavilion
and Field
Dining Hall
Lodging
Pack Hall
Campus
Overview
While students are in residents at Mount Rainier Institute our open air pavilion and athletic field become a popular outdoor community space. Students gather to play games of soccer, volleyball, kick ball, whiffle ball, four square, throw a Frisbee or just enjoy socializing outside.
This area is also used for a few of our evening programs such as predator prey, astronomy, and campfires.
Recreational Equipment
Provided by Mount Rainer Institute
Basketballs
Footballs
Frisbees
Kickball
Soccer Balls
Volleyballs
Pavilion and Athletic Field
Trailside Lunch
Wheat Bread
Ham or Turkey
Cheddar Cheese
Mayonnaise and mustard
Chips
Seasonal fruit
Seasonal vegetable
1 Cookie
Trail Snacks
Arrival Day - Goldfish
(Alternative Fruit)
Day 2 - Cheese Stick & Apple
(Alternative Gluten/Dairy Free Pretzels)
Day 3 - Granola Bar & Banana
(Alternative Gluten/Dairy Free Fruit Bar)
Before and after each day on trail, students gather at our dining hall at the sound of our meal bell. After brief announcements students file into our dining hall to sit with their cabins. It is at this time they share a meal and their stories from a day in the field.
Breakfast and dinner at Mount Rainier Institute are served family style with exceptions to participants with allergies. Participants with any dietary needs will to fill out our dietary needs form and see the kitchen directly for their meals to ensure all needs are met.
Students pack a bagged lunch before heading off on trail. Along with the participants lunch they are also given a morning and afternoon snack.
Our trail menu can be seen below:
Dining Hall
Mount Rainier Institute programs are full days of immersive place based experiences. Our lodging does a wonderful job of accommodating the need for a functional yet comfortable sleeping space. Each of our 10 historic cabins can accommodate up to 8 people. Our dorm above the dining hall has sleeping space for up to 22 participants across 5 shared rooms.
Mount Rainier Institute asks that there is at least 1 adult chaperone from your school in each cabin with students. This makes the ideal ratio of students to adult chaperones 7:1.
Overview
Participants should bring a pillow, sleeping bag or blankets for use during their stay.
Participant Note
Schools staying with Mount Rainier Institute will stay in our historic cabins or in our Dorm above the Dining Hall. Like Pack Hall the cabins and Dining Hall were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's.
Lodging
While students are in residence at Mount Rainier Institute Pack Hall becomes a popular indoor community space. During free time students gather in Pack hall to play cards, board games, piano, read or socialize.
In addition to being a community space Pack Hall is frequently used for evening programing; Values of the Past, symposium preparation, and guest presentations are just a few programs you will find in this space.
Overview
Pack Hall is among one of the first buildings constructed after the initial purchase of land from the Northern Pacific Railroad and Cascade Timber Corporation. Pack Hall was completed in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The shingles and timber used to complete the building were harvested, transported, and milled on Pack Forest property at a shingle and sawmill facility.
Pack Hall
Pack Forest
The establishment of Pack Forest in 1926 was made possible by a generous donation from Charles Lathrop Pack to the University of Washington. This gift enabled the original acquisition of 334 acres of land to be used by the School of Environmental and Forest Science as a window into sustainable forestry. Today, staying true to the original mission, Pack Forest acreage has grown to 4,270 acres of working forest. This working forest consists of research, demonstration of sustainable forestry practices, areas of preserve, and trails for recreation. This provides several high quality teaching areas such as old growth forest, river ecosystems, and managed forest all of which can be used in Mount Rainier Institute programming.
Follow Us
Mount Rainier Institute
The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Mount Rainier Institute is honored and grateful to provide programs that take place in the ancestral homelands of the Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Yakima, and Cowlitz.
Mount Rainier Institute provides outstanding nature-based education experiences that are rooted in science and nurture the next generation of environmental stewards and leaders.