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Aptly named, Paradise is an outpost of civilization in southwestern Mount Ranier National Park. More than a mile - 5,400 feet - above nearby sea level, our destination is every bit the sub-alpine wonderland its name implies. A valley of meadows teaming with wildflowers, lakes, and backing up to the foot of a glacier, the place is easy to fall in love with.

Unsurprisingly, Paradise is the most visited section of the Mount Rainier whose boundaries as a national park cover 1/3 the area of Rhode Island. During the summer - which can be short and unpredictable in the high country - Paradise is impossibly crowded. Much like Yosemite. Route 706 from the Nisqually entrance is kept open to the Paradise Lodge through the winter, but requires four wheel drive or chains - sometimes both. Difficult but accessible is a good combination.

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The Carbon River entrance is an industrial-looking swatch of land; rocks, a low waterline, and occasional clear cuts. Of course, in the end of August, most rivers are flowing pretty low.

Mount Ranier is a giant place; most of it cordoned off from the motorist’s view. There are a small handful of of roads leading into the park, and Carbon River is one of them. It’s probably the most remote - a long, poorly maintained dirt road leading off to Mowich Lake (below).

This is the least known and least trafficked road into a park that sees more than four million yearly visitors. Even on an dark, stormy day parking was overflowing in some places and limited in others; still this is back-country wilderness compared to Sunrise or Paradise.

About two hours from Seattle, this northwestern corner of Mt Ranier is a great weekend getaway.

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