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Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Burroughs Mountain
This route offers more than just wonderful wildlife viewing. The trail atop Burroughs Mountain provides hikers outstanding views of the northeast face of Mount Rainier. Little Tahoma can be seen flanking Rainier, and the tower-topped peak of Mount Fremont stands to the north. Closer at hand, marmots and pikas dash between the rocks along the trail. Mountain goats can be found showing off their agility on the sides of the local peaks. And raptors--from lightning-fast peregrines to massive golden eagles--soar overhead. All in all, the views and the local wildlife make this loop an unbeatable day hiking option for hikers young and old.
From the Sunrise parking lot and visitor center, find the broad trail (an old road, actually) on the southwest side of the parking lot and follow it west toward Sunrise Camp. At 0.5 mile out, stay right rather than head toward the camp, however. This trail leads upward through meadowlands for another mile--stay straight ahead at the next junction (about 1 mile from the trailhead)--to reach Frozen Lake at 1.5 miles. Go left here to skirt around the lake, which serves as the source of all water for the Sunrise area facilities, and at the next junction (about 0.2 mile farther on) stay left again to climb the gentle, open slope leading up to the top of First Burroughs. About 1 mile after leaving that last junction (2.7 miles from the trailhead), you will be on the western end of the broad top of First Burroughs (7200 feet). The trail then follows the ridge line about 1 mile across to Second Burroughs (7400 feet) before it angles southwest and descends around the side of Third Burroughs. Rather than drop off the top of Second, though, stop and enjoy the view. It is worth your time to relax here a long time not only to enjoy the views, but hopefully to be lucky enough to see some avalanche and rock-slide activity on the side of Mount Rainier. The sound of one of these events will stick in your memory forever. Turn around here. If you want a little variety on the return trip, at the junction atop First Burroughs veer to the right and follow the steep trail down to Sunrise Camp and from there back to the trailhead parking lot. The mileage is about the same as the route you followed coming up.
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 17 miles west to the large parking lot and visitor center at the road's end. Note: Sunrise Road usually doesn't open until early July. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
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We began our hike at the Sunrise parking lot at around 10 AM and completed it at 5 PM. We stopped an...
We began our hike at the Sunrise parking lot at around 10 AM and completed it at 5 PM. We stopped and gawked a lot!
We approached Burroughs Mountain from the Ridge trail leading to Frozen Lake. As soon as we began on the hike to 2nd Burroughs Mountain after leaving the Frozen Lake intersection, I quipped that we had wanted to hike to Burroughs Mountain for years - we just had not known it! Virtually all of the wildflowers were gone, not surprisingly because of being so late in the season. There were some fall colors. None of the stunning geology and vistas were gone. We could see Grand Park, much of the trail to the Fremont Lookout, and later we could see the lookout itself. We could see Skyscraper Peak, the Olympics, other parks and valleys, and of course as we neared the summit of 1st Burroughs, we could see "my mountain" more usually know as Mount Rainier. The weather was ideal in that it was sunny, calm, warm, with great visibility. Trail conditions were completely dry in mid-morning. No bugs bothered us. We had quite a bit of company on the trail, and at the summit. There was a mild wind but not too bad. Mount Rainier dominates the scene. My husband commented it felt as if we were a stone's throw away. We did not hear ice fall but know we could have. The stone bench at 2nd Burroughs has interesting construction and placement. It is also how we found out about this hike, through geo-caching. We did not continue to 3rd Burroughs because of the time. We decided to take a different route down than the one we had used to come up. We hike back to the intersection on 1st Burroughs and turned right, to go down and around Burroughs to Sunrise Camp, to Shadow Lake, and then back to the Sunrise parking area. You might like to know that at this time of year the day lodge is closed, as are what I will call the main restrooms. There are 2 vault toilets available near the lodge. The interpretive signs have been taken down for the season here and at Sunrise Point. Remember too, that the access road does not stay open all year. We look forward to doing this hike again next Summer. This is literally a wonder-full hike. Day hike
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While checking the road status for Mount Rainier, I noticed they will be shutting down the road to S...
While checking the road status for Mount Rainier, I noticed they will be shutting down the road to Sunrise on Monday. This left me with just this weekend if I wanted to hike the Burroughs trail this year and so off I went.
I parked in the Sunrise Visitors center parking lot around 6:15 a.m. and was greeted by the sun coming over the horizon just as I crested Burroughs #1. It was a beautiful sight with the mountain colored in a golden hue by the sunrise. I paused for a moment to catch my breath and then moved on to Burroughs #2. The mountain, the views, the scenery were spectacular. I was still all by myself when I reached Burroughs #2. I paused on the stone bench provided and took some time for a few pictures. The sun was starting to warm the air and there was a light breeze from the south. Looking to the West, I spotted Burroughs #3 and the trail leading to the top. One small dot seemed to be moving down the trail. It was another hiker who had gone to the top ahead of me using a headlamp. I met a second hiker, who passed me on the trail up to Burroughs #3. Once on top, I found the views spectacular, but the winds at 24 MPH made it difficult to take a steady picture and keep my glasses on. So I sat down amongst the rocks, enjoyed the view, ate my trail bar and drank some water. It was at this moment I realized that to get back; I had to scale both Burroughs #2 & #1 again. Doing this the first time was easy, but now after climbing Burroughs #3, I would need a few more breaks on the way back. Reaching Burroughs #2, the trail started to get more crowded. I decided to return along the Sunrise Rim Trail, which always keeps the mountain in view. All in all, this was a great hike which I enjoyed immensely. Can’t wait till next spring to hike this trail again. Day hike
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I left the Sunrise parking lot around 5:15 am, and caught an unbelievable sunrise on the back side o...
I left the Sunrise parking lot around 5:15 am, and caught an unbelievable sunrise on the back side of Second Burroughs Mountain. The trail then led to the top of Third Burroughs Mountain, before doubling back and taking the steep switch back descent to the Glacier Basin Trail along the White River. From White River campground, the Wonderland Trail was a steep series of switch backs 3.2 miles back up to the Sunrise parking lot. I did see a rather large black bear foraging about 50 feet off the Wonderland trail maybe 1/2 mile above White River campground.
Burroughs Mountain
— Sep 21, 2012
— stever
Day hike
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Jeff had such a good time going up to Summerland with me a few weeks back he wanted to try another h...
Jeff had such a good time going up to Summerland with me a few weeks back he wanted to try another hike at Mt Rainier so we decided to try a doubleheader going to Mt. Fremont Lookout and then up Burroughs Mt out of Sunrise. After having such a nice dry summer it was a bit of a surprise this morning driving out of Seattle and hitting light rain, mist and drizzle from Renton past Greenwater. Once we got to Greenwater it let up and the skies started to lighten a bit. We saw a magnificent herd of elk in the highway (410) before the park entrance.
When we stopped to pay our entrance fee at White River it was quite cool and smokey. Like being around a a cmapfire the air smelled like smoke and that was the story of the day. There was a bit of a temperature inversion when we arrived at Sunrise with warm temps at 8:00 so we peeled down to shorts and t-shirts before taking off. First up the Sourdough Ridge Trail heading west to the 5-way intersection. The mountain was visible if somewhat obscured by the smoke in the air. We made the turn at 5-way and headed north to Mt Fremont Lookout. It was clear enough to see the patchwork of trails in that part of the park as we headed to the lookout. Once we got there the wind started to howl. I had to anchor my hat to my pack as I was worried about losing it. The wind pretty much howled the rest of the day when we were in unprotected spots like Mt Fremont Lookout and up on Burroughs Mt. Even with the wind it was still warm and we saw no need to put on more clothes. After a break at the lookout it was back the way we came to the 5-way intersection before climbing up Burroughs. We did the first and second Burroughs but decided to hold off on the third for another day. Hopefully with less smoke in the air. We came back to Sunrise via the Sunrise Rim Trail which is a bit gnarly in spots, stopping for lunch at Shadow Lake near Sunrise Camp before retuning to the car about 4.5 hours after we started. Hopefully some rains come in shortly to knock that smoke down. See you on the trail. SR Day hike
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The trail was perfect the whole way through : ) the wildflowers in most parts don't seem to be getti...
The trail was perfect the whole way through : ) the wildflowers in most parts don't seem to be getting all that much water and are wilting away--and the fall colors aren't quite changing just yet.
We saw TONS of wildlife though! As soon as we hit the trail at 6:30am (sunrise) we saw two deer, little chipmunks all the way up to the little crossroads around 10am, then at 10:15am we saw a huge gathering of goats (20+) in the shadows of the mountain leading up to the view of Mt. Rainier. We also had birds land on our fingers without even having any food to offer them! We didn't see any bears though; maybe next time! Lovely day : ) Striking views of everything! See more pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/me[…]amp;type=1&l=3509987b15 |
 The Mountain from the Burroughs Mountain trail. Photo by HF Walter.
2012
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