Alta Crystal Resort (Greenwater, WA)
To sum it up, we will not be going back to this place. The walls are like paper and the place is very, very noisy. We could hear our neighbors as if they were in our room, and the people staying upstairs woke us up at about 5-6am both nights (2 different groups of people). We didn’t get much rest. Also, the place is way overpriced (about $240 a night in the summer). For the same price, you can go somewhere much nicer, like Alderbrook.
I strongly would recommend some of the places you can visit around there, but I would also recommend spending the night somewhere else.
If you decide to go, here are some more details about the place. Of course, make sure you stay on the top floor if you want to get any sleep.
• It takes about 1.5-2 hours to get there, which is much shorter than going to the south part of Mount Rainier.
• You have your own little apartment with a deck, which is very nice.
• You can rent movies and watch them in the room. This is typically free in many other places, but here they charge you $5.95 for DVD rentals. They have a huge variety, though.
• You can check in late (the office is open until 9:30pm), but check out is very early, 10:30am.
• We spent a weekend there and enjoyed making some S’mores. It was nice but we had a couple of huge dogs trying to eat our food all the time, so it was not very comfortable. We just had to give up at eating.
• They have activities every night of the week, so it’s good for kids, and it’s open all year round. If you like skiing, this is probably a great place to visit during the weekend.
• The Wi-Fi at the resort barely worked - we were able to check our email the night we arrived and weren’t able to use it for the rest of the trip.
• They have a very nice recreation room with table tennis, board games, foosball, etc. The internet worked pretty well over there.
• They also have a heated pool and hot tub. The heated pool is pretty small, but remember to take your swimsuit if you feel like trying it.
• They had a very useful book in the room with all the trails close to the resort.
• There is no restaurant in the resort (they just sell “heat and eat” place at the store so that you can heat it up in your room. About 12 miles down highway 410 there was a tavern (Naches Tavern) that had pretty good food for very reasonable places. It was a good surprise! It is the closest place to eat and typically restaurants in the mountains close very early, so make sure to eat early enough or you will get to 10pm and find out you can’t find food anywhere. ;)
• You can hike from the top of Crystal but beware of altitude sickness. You are about 6400 feet in the air and the oxygen is rather thin there. We saw several people hyperventilating.
• Beware of rocks in the parking lot! For some reason, they decided to mark the narrow roads throughout the resort with big rocks. If you knows this type of resort, it is pretty much pitch dark at night and your only guide is your car lights. We got our car scratched pretty badly when turning through one of those super narrow paths. :P
• The room also smelled of bacon. :P Ifwe ever go back we-ll bring a scented candle or see if they have any rooms without kitchens. Or better yet, a cabin, though I doubt they are worth the price. :P
For reservations: altacrystalresort.com.
Things to do around the area (strongly recommended!):
• We went up to Sunrise, which is about 20 miles away. We had to pay the $15 to get into the Mount Rainier National Park, but if there is something I don’t mind paying for is helping support this park. The entrance fee is also good for a week in case you want to go back. Sunrise is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen... Take a look at this picture! I had never seen Mount Rainier so close (the elevation there is 6400 feet) and the flowers were in full bloom there. Simply beautiful and highly recommended. They have a visitor’s center and a small cafeteria. I would recommend leaving before it gets dark, since the roads are narrow and there are lots of curves. If you want to eat at the cafeteria, you will need to make a reservation here. You might be able to eat lunch without one if you are lucky, but not dinner.
• We took a gondola up to the top of Crystal Mountain, which is about 8 miles away from the resort. The ride is $20 per person (round trip). It is a little pricey, but it is well worth it. The view of Mount Rainier from there is amazing! The ride will take you about 10 minutes to get to the top of Crystal Mountain and you will probably take lots of pictures on the way there. :) There is a restaurant on top of the mountain and we heard it is pretty good. Make sure to make a reservation here if you want to eat there. Good for children. Remember to take a jacket to these last two places. Even during the summer, the breeze is very chilly.
• On the way back we stopped at Deep Lake and Kanaskat Palmer State Park. Both of them were beautiful places and I would like to spend a day there or do a picnic. However, you will need a Discover Pass if you want to spend the day there. You can buy it at places like REI or through their website. If you just want to take a quick look, there is a free 15-minute parking spot.
Visited in Mid-August 2011