Sourdough Ridge, Fremont Lookout — Tuesday, Jul. 19, 2011

Mount Rainier Area > NE - Sunrise/White River

Ascending up the road to Sunrise has some nice flower displays along the road. Enjoy! As there aren’t many flowers up at Sunrise. The parking lot is dry and bare – but there is 1-2 feet of snow in the meadows just outside the parking lot. I headed up towards Sourdough Ridge trail – hoping to find a well trod path thru the snow. There was no well trod path – but I did find the NPS wands as I approached the ridge. Then I noted the last wand and did a back bearing to the lodge ( the clouds/fog were so thick, I couldn’t see the lodge very well). Once on the ridge, there is a well trod path heading out to Frozen Lake – which crosses several snow fields. Between snow fields, the trail was totally melted out. I had a pole and microspikes and had no problem crossing the snow fields. The snow was soft and the boot trail well defined. At Frozen Lake, the sign pointing the trail to Freemont Tower was quite visible. After crossing a few minor snow patches, the trail to Freemont Tower was snow free until the final approach. It seemed that the higher I got, the less snow there was! There were a few wildflowers coming out about ½ way to Freemont tower. Stopped by visitor center (which had a very nice 3-d map display of Mt Rainer park w/trails) on the way back to the car. The ranger was suggesting people take the road behind the visitor center – and then the trail to Frozen Lake was wanded when the road turned to snow. There were a few flowers poking their noses up around the visitor center. I was glad for the extra jacket and gloves I had thrown in at the last minute. It was a delightful hike – but it’s going to be a few weeks(?) before the trail is snow free and the wildflower show is in full bloom.