I arrived at the trailhead at 6:45AM on Wednesday July 13th. I hiked most of the Emmons Moraine trail but got lost at the end (even with Gaia/GPS I couldn't make out where the trail went it seemed to just go in circles) and the clouds/mist was totally obscuring the view anyway so pressed on to Glacier Basin. I didn't run into anyone until about 9:15AM when I crossed campers returning to TH. The last 3/4 mile or so of the trail is snow covered but I didn't feel the need to put on my microspikes. Even kids were trooping through it just fine. When I reached Glacier Basin I was warned of a bear and did eventually see it way off in the distance. First time seeing a bear on a hike so I was pretty stoked. Lots of campers returning to TH at this point so I didn't stay too long but the view was absolutely stunning. I was glad to have gotten an early start, I can't imagine how packed the space must have been later in the day. I passed maybe ~45 folks total. Got back to my car at around 11:15AM. 

We parked at the Climbers & Day Use parking lot in White River campground off Sunrise Rd.; bathrooms and water are here. Walk to the end of the campground, crossing the Wonderland Trail to Sunrise and passing through Loop D of the campground. The trail climbs, parallel to White River, through a dense forest of cedar, hemlock and Douglas fir. One mile in, you can take the Emmons Moraine Trail to your left, crossing the river and up onto the dusty moraine field. Otherwise continue upward to Glacier Basin, enjoying the 'air conditioning' when you pass the small spillways feeding White River. Snow patches begin about 5,400'. Because of the muddy trail there's an obvious boot path on these snow patches. When you get tired of the ascent, you'll be rewarded with a TOILET sign! :-) You're at Glacier Basin camp. Beyond the campsites you'll come to the 'end of the maintained trail' and the meadow opens up! Bears can be seen in this area-- we've seen them here before and we just missed two according to a large group ahead of us.  From here, turn around or climb the hill that takes climbers ever upward to Camp Schurman.

Paul and I took a wildflower hike on the Glacier Basin trail with a touch of snow conditions exploration. The snow on the trail begins about 1/10 mile before the junction with the trail up to Burroughs Mt. We hiked a little ways beyond the junction and the trail was completely covered with snow. We started up the trail to Burroughs. I hiked this trail on July 1st last year and I am estimating that the snow melt is still a week behind where it was last year on July 1st, so it is 18 days (or so) behind last year.

 
We saw an adolescent, cinnamon-colored black bear ambling up the trail 1.5 miles from the trailhead as we were going down. We got off the trail to the south and the bear got off the trail to the north and got back on the trail after she/he passed us. We were more than 100 feet away from the bear, the photo is with a zoom lens and highly cropped. The beginning of the attached video has footage of the bear passing by us, the rest of it has scenes from the many streams the trail crosses (turn down your volume).   

Paul's list of flowering plants, butterflies, and mammals is below. We found many species of flowers, but there aren't a lot of big displays yet. There are only a few monkey flowers blooming, so many more to come. The many wet areas are the best spots for flowers: multiple species of violets, multiple species of willowherbs, heart leaved springbeauties, some shooting stars, beautiful and varied mosses, slender bog orchids, and more. I always learn something when I hike with Paul, today it was gooseberries have thorns, currants don't.  

We got to the White River entrance of the park just after noon on Friday. There was no line at the entrance, but the White River Campground day use parking lot was full, with many cars parked along the road. We were lucky and found a parking spot when a group towing a trailer left us with two spots to pick from.

Toilets at the trailhead were clean but had no soap. The White River Campground looks operational, but a couple of the loops were closed for tree removal. We had lunch in the day use area and set out at 1pm. The trail was in good condition, weather was partly cloudy. For the amount of cars we saw, the trail was not too crowded (maybe they took the fork for the Emmons Moraine Trail which we skipped?). There were loads of bugs from the beginning all the way to the Glacier Basin camp; every time we stopped for a break, bugs would land on us.

The trail starts to sees some consistent snow around the last .5 miles into the camp, but there was a pretty consistent boot pack all the way. There are a couple of small trees that have fallen across the trail, the last one right before the entrance to the Glacier Basin camp.

Like the previous trip report mentioned, the Glacier Basin camp was mostly snow covered (and mostly pretty hilly piles of snow too). There are a few dryish spots to be found in the group site. We initially thought of pitching our tent on some snow in Site #1 but discovered human poop and used tp in a nearby tree well.

There is a sign for toilets at the entrance to the camp. They're a little bit of a walk away through snow and on this path the boot pack disappears in places. We were a little skeptical, but eventually found the toilets hidden behind some trees.

We were partially hoping to see some bears like some of the previous trip reports, but the only mammals we saw was a hoary marmot in Glacier Basin and a handful of chipmunks and squirrels.

It took us two hours to head back down the next morning. We encountered loads of skiiers and mountaineers on the way up and more day hikers the closer we got to the trailhead.

Edited July 5, 2022: Park at White River Campground which is in full operation.  About a 2 hour hike up to Glacier Basin.  The camps at Glacier Base are all under 3 to 6 feet of snow.  95% OF THEM.  You will be sleeping on snow unless you get there early and snag the first few spots of snow-free ground that are to the left side of the trail - in what is called the group camping area - while entering the camp from down below.  Please camp in designated campsites only.  Thank you!