On all my trips to Burroughs over the years, I have been pretty lucky and usually had good clear views of Rainier and all its friends. Yesterday was not as good as hoped but we still got some nice intermittent views of Rainier and the surrounding landscape during short periods of clearing sky. When we started along the Sunrise Rim Trail about 9:45, cloud cover pretty well covered views of Emmons Glacier and Rainier. Once we got up to 2nd Burroughs, the intermittent glimpses of blue sky and mountain began...beautiful. We turned around at 2nd Burroughs and took the Sourdough Ridge northern route to complete the loop.
The trail, as usual, is in great shape. The Sunrise Rim Trail was not crowded at all in the morning and was bordered by large patches of asters and lupines and a few scatterings of the magenta paintbrush seen in the Rainier area. Once we reached 1st Burroughs, we encountered a lot more hikers coming in on the northern route of the loop. By the time we headed down at 1:00 there was a steady stream of folks of all ages heading up, especially when we reached the Sourdough Ridge Trail.
It was a great hike, a little windy and cool but still great. Rainier never disappoints me.
Logistics:
- Arrived with a reservation at the Sunrise Entrance right at 9:00
- Lot at Sunrise about half to 2/3 full
- Let the parking lot at 9:45, tooks photo and rest stops, at 2nd Burroughs around 12:30. Headed down along the northern route at 1:00 back at lot at 2:50
- No bugs
- No goats or bears seen on this trip, only bold chipmunks and two marmots, one enjoying a lie-in on a sun-warmed rock
- For those who may have never been to Sunrise, there are plenty of toilets there...so rest assured.
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