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Trip Report

Grand Park via Lake Eleanor — Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2025

Mount Rainier Area > NE - Sunrise/White River
Paintbrush and lupine on the upper meadow, just before Grand Park.

Stopped at Skookum Flats for a toilet break. Some nice visitors have been leaving rolls of toilet paper. Thank you! The vault is nearly full. It may become unusable in the near future. Someone dropped a bag of trash into it, which made it worse.
The forest road is just as bad as people have been saying. The wash-out is negotiable with care. The many potholes are sometimes very hard to see due to the dappled lighting. Our Forester required 50 minutes to go the 10 miles. That's 25 minutes more than the Google estimate. A low-clearance car will have to be even more careful.
The little parking lot was full when we arrived at 09:35. We parked on the shoulder a bit farther on.

It was a beautiful, clear, cool day with a gentle breeeze. There were still lots of flowers on the meadows and in more-protected areas. They're past peak in most of Grand Park.
No bears this time.
The bugs were ferocious, and not terribly respectful of DEET. More people are using head nets.
There were some pretty squishy sections of the trail.  Otherwise, the trail was in great shape.

Beardtongue and bistort on Grand Park.
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