If you’ve ever visited Paradise on Mount Rainier you know there is no reliable cellphone service. No calls, no texts, no Facebook. But that may be about to change.
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Two companies, Verizon and T-Mobile, have proposed building mobile receiver transmitters 5,400 feet up the mountain.
It's an idea regular visitors think is way overdue.
“Growing up around here and have a lot of families and people, tourists coming up here, especially in bad weather conditions, it’s nice to let people know where you are and that you made it safe,” Mackenzie Glisson said.
Lack of reliable communication in the park hampered investigators from the Ranger Service, FBI and Pierce County Sheriff's Department on Jan. 1, 2012, when ranger Margaret Anderson was shot and killed by Benjamin Colton Barnes.
Parkgoers were stranded as armed search teams combed the park, unable to tell friends and family they were safe.
The 24-year-old Barnes was found dead in the snow the next day.
The proposal for cell coverage doesn't include a tower that will interfere with the natural look of Paradise.
Instead the two companies propose hiding the equipment inside the attic of the Jackson visitor center.
Diann Sheldon, who runs a guide service that brings visitors to Paradise, says while she appreciates the need for communication, she'd miss driving up to Rainier and getting off the grid.
“For me, it’s really about being up here and being unplugged, not being tied into the electronics and just being in the moment,” Sheldon said.
The National Park Service is inviting input from the public on the proposal.
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