Mount Rainier Question

I'm heading out to Seattle next week on vacation, and I was looking to put aside one day to do some sunset and night sky shooting in Mt. Rainier. I looked at the park hours on their web site, and I'm hoping someone can clarify some information for me. I will be entering the park via the Longmire entrance. My question is that since I'm not planning to stay the night, will the gates to Longmire or even Paradise still be open so I can exit the park around midnight or 1AM? I know it says that during the summer the gates do not close. I just don't want to get stuck in the park since I will be there well past dusk. Any insight or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Nick

Not a great answer, but this time of year you should probably just call the day before or morning of day you are planning to go, weather changes quickly, they just had 7-8 inches fall up there a day or so ago, they may require 4wd or chains or whatever depending on current weather which of course all affects what they'll do with the gates.

I appreciate the helpful response. I will certainly make a point to call ahead of time before I venture out there since I know I won't have a 4WD rental vechicle.

Hwy-410 has some nice pullout parking areas to get some nice shots of Mt. Rainier. You might also check into Crystal Mountain and see about taking the ski chairlift to the summit as another option, not sure about their hours or costs though, it's been maybe 20 years since I've been to Crystal and maybe 5 years since I've drove/driven/drived over hwy-410.

(your choice on how to spell the past tense of drive a car )

Hopefully this reply isn't too late. The road to Longmire will be open at any time, and the road to Paradise should stay open unless there are any weather events that cause them to close it. They close the road from Longmire to Paradise nightly in the winter, but that's over now, under normal conditions. You might want to follow the park's Twitter feed, which will have information on any closures:
https://twitter.com/Mo​untRainierNPS

Also be aware that even though it's June, there's still a lot of snow up at Paradise. If I'm reading the following site correctly, then it looks like there are about 10.5 feet on the ground at Paradise right now:
http://www.nwac.us/wea​therdata/paradise/now/

You can also check it out on several webcams here:
http://www.skimountain​eer.com …-MtnWebCams.html?size=m​ed

Note that the Sunrise shots on that site are not currently being updated, probably because Sunrise is still closed for winter. The shots shown are from October. The others should all be current.

You might also find this road status page helpful, in case you're looking into visiting any other areas of the park (some of which are still not open for the season):
http://www.nps.gov …yourvisit/road-status.htm

I hope this helps!