If you're looking for a quick way to get away from the car and into Mount Rainier's alpine splendor, this is your express lane to ecstasy. The Sourdough Ridge Trail, which begins in the thick of the tourist-choked Sunrise visitor center, leaves it all fairly quickly, climbing to a ridge top and turning east beneath Antler Peak. Kids love the open views and general abundance of marmots.


At the trailhead near the rest rooms on the north side of the parking lot, head north across meadows for 0.2 mile to reach a Y-junction. You'll start and end here, so you could go either way, though I recommend going right to do the loop counterclockwise. Follow the slanting trail about 0.5 mile to the top of Sourdough Ridge. The hard-packed trail climbs 400 feet to the crest of Sourdough Ridge and a junction with the ridge-top trail. If you go right (east), you'll wander 1.3 miles to Dege Peak. That's a trip for another day, however. Instead, go left and skirt under the summit of Antler Peak.

After about 0.2 mile, you'll get around Antler and find yourself on the edge of a sharp ridge line. From the ridge, you can look south to Mount Rainier and beyond. Little Tahoma Peak stands to the east of the mountain, and the deep green valleys of the William O. Douglas Wilderness push away to the east. To the north is the stunningly pretty valley of Huckleberry Creek, and the long line of the Sourdough Mountains stretches away to the northeast.

Continue west along this spine for another 0.3 mile, where you'll meet another trail fork (1.25 miles from the start). To the left is the trail forming the other branch of that Y you encountered at the start of your trek. Keep that in mind, but for now, continue straight ahead to follow Sourdough Ridge farther west--the best views are still ahead.

In just 0.25 mile, you come around a small knoll to return to the precipitous edge of the ridge above Huckleberry Basin. This time, though, you'll be able to look down on a green parkland bench floating halfway down the valley wall. This green terrace frequently is graced by herds of mountain goats and, on occasion, elk.

This is a wonderful place to stop and rest before turning back to that just-past junction, where you turn right to descend 0.8 mile back to the trailhead, closing your stretched-out loop hike.