Free ranger-led programs at Mount Rainier this weekend

Visitors to Mount Rainier National Park can enjoy two free special programs this weekend, and enter the park for free on Saturday and Sunday as part of a nationwide fee-free weekend in national parks.

On Friday evening at the Paradise visitor area, Mount Rainier Interpretive Ranger Mike Punches will present an astronomy-related program called "The Heavens of Paradise."

The half-hour program will begin at 9 p.m. with a short presentation in the lobby of Paradise Inn. Participants then will head outside near the Paradise Visitor Center for guided sky-watching and telescope stargazing courtesy of the Tacoma Astronomical Society (weather permitting). Friday is expected to be the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, so there could be good sky-watching.

On Saturday at the Longmire area, the park will offer a 1 ½-hour living-history program titled "Shadows of the Past" on people who have shaped the park. Their legacy will be brought to life along the Trail of the Shadows with John Muir, Samuel Emmons, Fay Fuller and others important to the park's history portrayed by rangers and volunteers in period costume. The ranger-guided, lantern-lighted walks will depart every 20 minutes between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. from in front of the National Park Inn at Longmire. The program will be held rain or shine.

For more information on ranger programs, contact the park's Curt Jacquot, 360-569-2211, ext. 3312.

For general information on Mount Rainier, see www.nps.gov/mora or call 360-569-2211. The normal entrance fee, waived this Saturday and Sunday, is $15 per vehicle.