As I’ve written before, our family spent a fair amount of time in the national parks over the years. A lot of memories were made there. The current 6th Edition of the Festival of Postcards encourages us to blog about a postcard we might have that includes something VERY white. Although tinged with blue, my old Paradise Ice Caves card is about as white as anything I have. See details on the postcard at the end of this blog.
I lived near Mt. Rainier National Park for the first 43 years of my life. Patty and I still owned a home 13 miles from the Nisqually – Paradise entrance to the park until 2001 or so, but I can’t say we really lived there, as we were traveling the country by motor home for nearly 7 years, then settled in Utah. When I was a kid, I would go to the Paradise side of the mountain about once a year – usually with friends or neighbors. I can remember hiking up to the Paradise Ice Caves once with my parents – and later Patty and I took our children up to the caves.
At one time the Paradise Glacier Ice Caves were the longest mapped ice caves in the world. They were within fairly easy access for most, with the hike only being two or three miles (as I remember it). The striking blue coloration of the ice always put me in awe. The Paradise River ran through the caves, which made it difficult to go deep into them unless you were prepared to do some wading. We usually stuck to walking along narrow shelves of snow that skirted the river. A guide was recommended if you wanted to go much more than a few hundred feet within the caves.
As the years went by, the Paradise Glacier receded, and during the 1990s the caves vanished entirely. The lower portion of the glacier is now entirely gone. It’s said that there may be ice caves above the headwall of the glacier, but they certainly aren’t the tourist attraction that the Paradise Ice Caves were.
I collected this jumbo (9 x 6.5″) postcard while visiting the Paradise Visitors Center sometime between Aug. 1, 1958 and Jan. 7, 1963. I’m able to say that – in that the postage rate for the card was 3 cents – and those were the dates within which one could mail a postcard for that amount of loose change. The caption on the back says, “Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington State – Paradise Ices Caves – Guide conducted foot trips are made to the Paradise Glacier Ice Caves. These vast caverns, with their unusual ice-crystal coloring, follow the Paradise River under the Paradise Glacier.” “Published for Rainier National Park Co., Tacoma, WA – Made in the U.S.A. – Curteichcolor Art Creation from Color Transparencies.”
I’m not really a postcard collector, although I have several hundred, most from my pre-teen years. Many of mine were sent to me by relatives and friends as they traveled about. I even have a few that Patty and I sent to our kids as we traveled when our children were young. These cards help fill in the family story – and are an important part of our family history collection.
