RailCycle Mt. Rainier — Local services in Graham

Desi Approved !

Summary : one time is great experience. Rail enthusiasts will love it. Kids will enjoy. Avoid taking older parents, most probably they wont be able to Pedal. Try to go in batches of 2, 4, 6 etc. Overall time from Bellevue/Redmond area for a 7 PM slot was about 7-8 hours. With adults watching closely, its safe for toddlers, babies as well.

Experience from a Friday evening 7 PM session, weather was about 70.

Travel : if possible avoid Friday evenings. Took us 2 hour 40 min to reach. Returning took about 1 ish hour.

Parking : there is parking onsite.

Price : For the overall experience, meh ! But, for the hard work their team puts in, cause and one of a kind type experience its totally worth it. For us it was about 133 for 3 I think, including taxes.

Route : Takes about 20 min to reach the turning point and this is the easiest part. Return is the uphill part, tougher than what we expected, but it’s not impossible, about 30 min of continuous pedalling. But, I think it was a bit difficult for us, because we were a peddler short, with a Toddler who could not pedal. So we had their guide to help us on our cycle.

Our Team : 2 adults that can pedal, 1 toddler that could not pedal. 1 guide to help us (no extra cost).

Pedal toughness : easy to moderate, if you don’t exercise regularly, may have some mild soreness in the back/thighs. Note : we felt pedals on the front were a but hard to reach, back pedals were easy for shorter people.

Temperature : I would personally not try this if temps were below 60-55 etc. around 70 is perfect. Above 85 would be tough is what I feel as well.

Other things -

Kids would enjoy. Especially above 5-6 years who have long legs and can pedal can even enjoy better. I think most kids below 4-5 wont be able to pedal. But should be able to sit and watch. For babies under 3, they should be able to sit on lap, comfortable. We took jackets and we were glad we took em. When we left for the trip, it was about 72, when we returned it was about 60. Try to get a selfie stick if possible. Rails will catch some speed, during some points to make sure to be very careful. Views are ok, you can see rainier if weather is good. Gift shop is ok. Rest areas are good, you have one at starting point and portable one on the other side.

Overall, I would go once but probably for the travel, weather dependency etc. I wouldn’t go once every year, unless I am really a Rail enthusiast. Nothing unsafe or problem causing and staff...

Rude. Unprofessional. Don’t waste your time. We arrived at 1240P today for our 1P excursion. My Husband joined the crowd to listen in on the safety drill. Since it was quite a long drive, I was changing my shoes in the car before joining. I looked at the time of 12:42P before locking my car door. My husband walks back to tell us that we couldn’t join the group after all. I approached the check-in stand and ended up speaking with Cat. I told her that I didn’t understand why we weren’t able to join. She said “because you’re late, and you were supposed to arrive 40 mins early because of the weather.” I said, “excuse me, 40 mins? the weather? The only e-mail I got, said to ‘arrive at least 20 minutes early’ so we’re actually here on time.” She asked for my last name to look me up in the computer, and as she did that, I pulled up the e-mail instructions on my phone and explained how we drove almost 3hrs to get there. She replied “all these people drove 3hrs to get here and they still made it on time.” WOW. Talk about RUDE & UNPROFESSIONAL. She walked off and attended to the group as they were getting in the cycle carts. I stood there in shock until a lady approached me and said that she decided at the last minute NOT to join her family who JUST purchased their tickets. Apparently, you can walk up to buy tickets? Would that explain why all the cycle carts were occupied? Where was our reservation for 4 people?? As Cat approached me, I started asking her these questions—she walked away, got on her phone, walked into the store and said “I can’t take this verbal abuse” then slammed her office door. WOW. I stood there in shock, again. There was no yelling, cursing, harassing, belittling, etc, for her to even mention “verbal abuse.” Odd. What you could’ve done differently though, Cat, besides answer my questions above, was to apologize for not being able to take us in. Perhaps offer to reschedule? Or better yet, offer a refund? We truly were excited to participate in this excursion thus the long drive. Instead, it was a complete disappointment, a complete waste of gas, and a complete waste of an entire, beautiful day....

We should have came 6/15 however the bikes that were advertised (blue and yellow) were not working. Rescheduled for 7/15, we drive over an hour to be again put in the old bike without a bottom that was not advertised and not safe for a 5 yr old (per Rail Cycles advise). We were rescheduled for today (8/3) and was promised everything would be perfect because of our really bad experience twice thus far. We arrived today to finally a Blue and Yellow bike! However right before we left we were told our car only has 1 break (should have 2) as does the the car in front of us and we would have to be tied to the car in front of us to make 2 breaks on 2 cars. We had already been through so much to get to this point, we weren't going to not go. It was absolutely terrifying!!!!! We had no way to communicate with the car in front that we were tied too going downhill, I was screaming please slow down and no one in the front car could heard me over the noise of the car. Finally we made it to the turn around point and ate. On the way back the crank arm fell off. Thank goodness it did not hurt my husband or our children. They have sent many emails out about the blue and yellow bikes not being ready. After the crank arm broke on the way back, we had to stop to wait for the guide and the car behind us stated their car had a broken seat too. There were 8 cars (1 was a guide), and we know of 3 that went on this trip broken. It's obvious they still aren't ready even though they are wasting people's time. This is $161 for 4 people and is absolutely not worth it. If you had a bad experience, ask...