Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Glacier Basin
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Mount Rainier National Park Trails,
by Dan A. Nelson and Alan L. Bauer.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. Head up the trail as it follows the frigid, churning waters of the White River upstream. The trail is broad and easy to walk. In fact, it's actually an old road, once used by miners and then by tourists until the late 1940s. The trail dips near the river periodically, and even on the hottest summer days, you can often feel a refreshingly cool breeze off the icy waters. At 1 mile, the trail splits. Stay right to continue up the Inter Fork of the White River. This branch of the river is spawned by the melting waters of the Inter Glacier, the river of ice nestled in the rocky basin below the pointed crest of Steamboat Prow. From the fork, the trail continues west, climbing along the river at the foot of Burroughs Mountain until reaching another trail junction at 2.5 miles (5500 feet). The trail on the right climbs steeply to the crest of Second Burroughs Mountain. You want to stay left and push upward toward The Wedge--the headwall of Glacier Basin. At 3 miles, the official trail ends at Glacier Basin Camp (5900 feet). From here, you can look upward at the rocky notch of St. Elmo Pass, through which flows the headwaters of the Inter Fork of White River. After enjoying the views, turn back at the camp and return the way you came. Note: This trail was severely damaged in the November 2006 floods. As this book went to press, this trail was relocated through rough terrain. Check with the park for the current status of this trail.
Driving Directions:
From Enumclaw, drive east 43 miles on State Route 410 to the Mount Rainier National Park White River Entrance. Veer right onto the Sunrise Road and follow it 5 miles, cross the White River, and turn left onto the White River Road. Follow this road to its end at the White River Campground. Park in the hikers lot and find the trailhead at the upper end of the campground loop. Recent Trip Reports
Hiked here recently?
Submit a trip report!
There are
31
trip reports for this hike.
See all trip reports for this hike.
Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
Thought I'd better get up to Sunrise one last time before the gate closes. I was too late, gate was...
Thought I'd better get up to Sunrise one last time before the gate closes. I was too late, gate was closed today up to Sunrise, not sure if it's for the season or not.
But I did Glacier Basin and it was fantastic! Only saw 8 people all day, had the basin to myself. Snow started consistantly .5 before you reach basin, before that was just traces and light dusting, but it was so pretty! Love the fresh stuff! I'm sure it won't be long before hwy will be closed and I will be up at Paradise most of winter. Perfect day, I even got a sunburn! Last week felt like fall, this week winter. Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
The ranger at Mt. Rainier White River station said WTA did incredible work over 4 seasons to reroute and improve...
The ranger at Mt. Rainier White River station said WTA did incredible work over 4 seasons to reroute and improve this trail and the result is very evident. Sturdy rock walls, wide smooth tread, solid bridges, well crafted water bars. WTA's work on this trail made today's hike a real pleasure.
The old Glacier Basin trail used to run lower on the slope and was constantly washed out by the river. The new trail skirts the slope from 30 to 50 feet up. From the trailhead at White River campground the trail climbs 1800 ft in 3.5 miles. The grade is gentle and there are no obstructions. Snow starts in earnest after the junction with the Burroughs Mountain trail and gets 4 to 6 inches at the basin. We left Seattle at 6:00 am and arrived at the trailhead about 8:30. It poured rain but was letting up by the time we arrived. After a mile, the sun came out, melted snow bombs off the trees, and burned away the clouds. By the time we reached the Basin, we had bright blue sky, warm sun, cold winds, and an absolutely spectacular view of Mt. Rainier, St. Elmo Pass, and Little Tahoma. There are 6 or 7 campsites at the basin and ample water in the nearby pond. It was so beautiful we wanted to keep on going right up to Camp Schurman! The road to Sunrise was closed due to snow and it is scheduled to close for the winter on Oct. 10. Access to Tamanos Creek and Frying Pan Creek trails is still open. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
All the hikers disappear right after Labor Day, right? Wrong. At 8:30 AM the Summerland trailhead parking lot was jammed...
All the hikers disappear right after Labor Day, right? Wrong. At 8:30 AM the Summerland trailhead parking lot was jammed full, with additional cars parked haphazardly along the road for almost a half mile in each direction. I exepcted the same at the Glacier Basin TH, but was happily surprised to find few hikers parked there. In fact, climbers probably outnumbered hikers. Good choice on my part.
I was mightily impressed by the extensive work just completed on this trail. It's obvious that a great deal of effort was applied here, and the result is outstanding! Many thanx to all those who spent their time and sweat to bring this massive project to completion. I spent a half hour along the way to cruise up the Emmons Glacier View side trail, time well spent. Too bad there's not much glacier left to see. Even without a gigantic glacier, it's interesting to see what that glacier had wrought in former days. Though Glacier Basin Camp is the official terminus of this trail, the continuing (unofficial) trail up to St. Elmo pass is just too tempting to pass up. Trail guides urge caution on this section, but there is only one really dangerous stretch. Thankfully it's very short, only a couple of hundred feet. This exciting section follows a steep sharp ridge which is not inherently difficult; the problem is that the tread consists of fine sand and small pebbles, all ground to sphericity over the eons. It's like walking on ball bearings and requires some careful footwork to avoid sliding over the side. The whole ridge is slippery like this, so, once fallen off the side, you wouldn't stop before careening over the edge of the moraine. Trekking poles are invaluable here and I even saw one climber put on crampons to get up the ridge. Back at the TH I read one of the informative signs outlining the history of commercial mining at Glacier Basin. Mining? In the park? Yes, it actually happened. The Mount Rainier Mining Company spent tons of money developing infrastructure, including the road from present-day Hwy. 410 up to the White River Campground turnoff and on up all the way to Glacier Basin, where they built a camp for "a donkey engine, seven horses, and a crew of thirty to forty men". After all this effort and money they discovered that (duh!) there was actually nothing there worth mining. I got this info from "WONDERLAND: An Administrative History of Mount Rainier National Park", a fascinating and comprehensive history of the park you can read at http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/mora/adhi/. Highly recommended reading, and free (tax dollars doing something useful). Lots of very cool pictures, too. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
My original plan for today was to hike to Summerland/Panhadle Gap, but by the time I made it to the...
My original plan for today was to hike to Summerland/Panhadle Gap, but by the time I made it to the trailhead, the parking was completely full. Instead of seekign out some dubious parking place, I switched to my alternate destination, Glacier Basin.
A ton of work has recently been put into this trail (thanks WTA!), and it was like hiking on a brand new trail. I haven't yet joined a trail maintence crew, but seeing the fine work done on this trail has convinced me that I need it. The hike itself is nice, with occasional view of Little Tahoma and Rainier. Being on the east side of The Mountian, there are some "contrast issues" with the views if you are hiking in the afternoon. The wildflowers along the trail as going gangbusters...they are a little past there peak at the lower elevations, but gaining some altitude fixes this. I hiked up to the end on the maintained trail, and then up a little farther toward St. Elmo Pass. This was hike 15 of my 30/300/30000 @ 30 challenge. I'm now at the halfway point. The elevation gain goal has been met (that's the easy one!), and I'm on track on the mileage (that's the hard one). 1. Deception Pass 2. Wallace Falls 3. Spencer Island 4. E. Fork Foss River 5. Lake Serene 6. Wallace Falls 7. Goat Lake (N. Cascades) 8. Boulder River 9. Third Beach to Toleak Point (Overnight) 10. Big Quilcene/Marmot Pass (Overnight) 11. Lake 22 12. N. Fork Skokomish (Overnight) 13. Welcome Pass/HIgh Divide 14. Golden Lakes/Sunset Park 15. Glacier Basin So far: 15 Hikes, 144.7 Miles, 31200' Elevation Gain Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
13 of us in the Brooklake Hiking group set out on the new Glacier Basin trail; weather was perfect. ...
13 of us in the Brooklake Hiking group set out on the new Glacier Basin trail; weather was perfect. I was really impressed by the job the volunteers w/ WTA did on this trail. Lots of hours spent indeed. I had not been on the new trail and had only been on the old trail once, many years back on a Mt Rainier climb. So some of the sights were familiar but mostly not. There are more openings to views than I thought there would be. Wildflowers were in bloom in the open areas along the trail. Some of the varities were pink monkeyflowers, lupine, paintbrush (mostly scarlet), small flower penstemon, columbine, mouse on a stick, spreading stonecrop, tigerlillies, pink heather, valerian, etc. I ventured on the side trail to the Emmons Moraine trail which I would highly recommend. It is only about 0.4 to 0.5 mile to the end of the maintained trail. There are great views of the turquoise colored lake, the rest of the moraine, the Emmons Glacier snout, and close up views of Little Tahoma and the upper Emmons as well as Mt Ruth and Steamboat Prow. The group got separated a bit but we met back up at the Glacier Basin camp. A great spot for lunch and to kick back. Large meadow and streams in the area. We could see climbers going up the Inter glacier. Bugs weren't too bad on the hike in. They were more noticeable (mostly flies) when we stopped but minor amount of repellent seemed to keep them at bay. Most of the group decided to hike a little ways beyond the maintained trail for even closer up views. We turned back near a stream and narrow ridge. Lots of happy people on the trail today. Now is the time to hike in the park. A stop at the Greenwater general store for ice cream (best prices around) topped of a super day!
|
2010, 2011
Map it
|
Document Actions
- Email this page
- Print this
- Share
Forgot your
New user?
