Mount Rainier postage stamp goes on sale Thursday; park to hold ceremony marking the issue



MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. -- The National Park Service will waive entrance fees at all national parks Thursday to celebrate 16 new postage stamps that celebrate the 100th anniversary of the park service.

The Mount Rainier National Park stamp will have an official First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Paradise, Wash.  The public is invited to attend the ceremony. The new Mount Rainier postage stamp will be available for sale there and at post offices nationwide on Thursday.

The stamp is being issued as one of 16 Forever stamps in the National Parks Forever stamp pane.

The park said the image on the Mount Rainier stamp was taken by Matt Dieterich, who worked in the park last year as an intern. To create the star trails image, he took 200 photos in a two-hour window between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.  When the photos are contained into one image, the stars create a circular pattern around the North Star, which is just out of view at the top of the image.