Stats
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Destination: 3rd Burrough R/T
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Distance: 10.8 miles
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Vertical: 2677 ft (seemed like more at altitude)
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Duration: 7 hours (lots of time contemplating the spectacular setting)
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Weather: Sunny and warm, with some low-level (pollution) haze obscuring Mt Baker, Glacier Peak and Mt Stewart later in the day; light wind was welcome to prevent overheating
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Takeaway: The landscape and mountain are transformed by fall and the storm last weekend, the mountain now wrapped in a white coat (for the winter?) Willis Wall is white again, with variable amounts of snow on the Burroughs, deeper with transport/drifting and in shaded north-facing slopes, all in stark contrast to the meadow fall golds and reds. Simply breathtaking, and probably my most scenic Rainier hike this season.
Trip to Sunrise was uneventful. There was ample parking at all trailheads from the Crystal Mountain turnoff all the way through Sunrise. The poles are up on the approach to Sunrise - winter, and road closure, is coming! Sunrise in particular was quiet, with lots of parking in the main parking lot in front of the Lodge (now closed for the season). The impact of the storm was evident approaching the mountain - snow started in the meadows and covered the entire mountain from there on up. The landscape was transformed, and with the additional fall color, I knew I was in for a treat.
My route: Sourdough Ridge trail to Frozen Lake, then up the Burroughs trail to 1st and 2nd Burroughs, down 2nd Burrough, and then up the 3rd Burrough trail (straight at the junction down to Glacier Basin). The trail up to 3rd Burrough is not on the park map, but is well-defined (although a little less so in the snow, and I could see via footsteps that some people were losing the actual trail, having been here earlier this summer) and I did not notice an "End of Maintained Trail" for that branch at the junction.
The snow starts on the ascent up to 1st Burroughs. The smattering of snow set off against the dark gray/black lichen covered rock and the golds/reds/oranges of fall foliage, made this a beautiful climb. The snow gets more significant as you ascend, and I would say the high alpine has better fall color than say, Berkeley Park right now (maybe due to the drought this summer?). There was evidence of rock fall on the way up - whoa, that would take a life, stay alert. For me, the most memorable part of this first climb is rounding the corner near that top, with Rainier glaciers towering over you that from a distance, seem touchable, and then emerging onto the great bench of 1st Burrough, with more and more of Rainier, particularly Emmons glacier, revealing herself as you summit in your final steps. It gets me every time!
Next you cross the bench and begin the climb to 2nd Burrough. This trail had more snow, with some deeper drifts near the top, and great top-to-bottom views of Emmons glacier, including the glacier toe in the valley far below. On the return, this is where I saw goats (see video). The final couple dozen steps as you summit 2nd Burrough is different from 1st Burrough, with more full-on views of the mountain to the West and the green (with fall color splashes) recesses of Glacier Basin descending off to the left. There are great views in all directions here as you are at a local high point in the trail, and this is a common turnaround point.
We descended down the opposite side, with beautiful views of Glacier Basin, Skyscraper Pass and Mountain (cutover to Skyscraper Pass is in the pass between 2nd and 3rd Burroughs), and the trail up to the magnificent views of 3rd Burrough. The meadows in this pass were back lit with fall color, and intermittent snow for contrast. More significant snow is encountered on the trail up to 3rd Burroughs, particularly in shaded north-facing slopes, although the snow is much more sporadic as you reach the summit.
What can I say about the 3rd Burrough view? I have attached a video that captured each segment of the trail, including the summit here, and it conveys this beauty of this perch better than I can muster here. Breathtaking does not really do it justice! I lingered here for a long time, and did a bit of ridge walking (north) for other perspectives. I could hear ice cracking, rock falls and flowing water, and looked down into blue-tinged ice falls and crevasses (see zoom in video). 3rd Burrough provides a unique perspective, looking at where Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers split above you at Steamboat Prow. To the west, the piles of ice at the bottom of Willis Wall that form the Carbon Glacier are clearly visible, as is Russell Glacier fronting Observation and Echo Rocks above Spray Park. I simply cannot get enough of this view, and keep coming back and back, this time with a unique landscape transformed by first snow. The video captures much of this, although I do need a gimbal for stabilization (!!) and we were facing into the sun for much of the day.
The trip down was a bit more eventful than up :) I came around a large Elk standing in the middle of the road rounding a curve, soon towering over my car! It was getting dark, and various passenger compartment articles went flying through the air (including my camera) as I came to a sudden spot (not speeding, just a sharp corner in the twilight). Just a heads up to be careful after dusk. Two cars came ripping down the mountain minutes later, and at their speed, they likely would not have been able to avoid a collision. Yikes!!
NOTE: The video below is hosted by YouTube, but in "unlimited" mode meaning it is not publicly available outside of this report
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