Grand Park via Lake Eleanor — Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2009

Mount Rainier Area > NE - Sunrise/White River

Ripe huckleberries, running streams, mushrooms, a blue grouse family with 3 chicks, forest, a few lingering wildflowers in the open meadows, a lake, oh ... and of course views of the mountain !! Such an interesting and great day out there, we hardly noticed a few mini rain sprinkles on way out. Though had backpacked from Sunrise to Lake Eleanor a few years back, we'd never entered the Park from the north boundary before. Road 73 (off 410) is currently not as bad as we'd heard with a few large potholes to watch out for. Closer to 410 there's a chunk of road falling away at a culvert plus a deep gutter forming and running for a few hundred yards down the side of the road. The trailhead is by Eleanor Creek, about 10 miles from 410, and of course you can hike as far as you wish, Berkley Park, branching off to Second Burroughs and others favorites. As the clouds rolled in at Grand Park, we were happy we had gloves & warm layers in our packs; so we continued to meander along and met a few backpackers enjoying the remaining days of this terrific summer as much as we were. Map GT 270 Mount Rainier East