Great day for a hike at Mount Rainier! There were signs warning about construction on 410 as mentioned in other trip reports, but there was no evidence of any construction work or closures happening today besides some loose pebbles getting kicked up by cars, possibly because it was a Sunday. We got through the Sunrise entrance around 8:45am in less than 5 minutes. By the time we were leaving at 1:30pm there were a few dozen cars lined up and stopped at the entrance with no signs of movement, so definitely a good idea to arrive early! We were at the trailhead by 9am and parked along the road in the camping area by the trailhead.
This was our first time doing Glacier Basin and it didn't disappoint! It doesn't have the in-your-face views of Mount Rainier that you'll get on hikes like Panorama Point and Fremont Lookout but it has fewer crowds and a steady diet of views between the trees for the first couple miles. The trail is quite wide and smooth for most of the hike and not very steep until the end. Near the top the trail gets steeper but is still quite nice, with some small pockets of wildflowers and fewer trees to block your view. We went ~0.5 mile past the end of the "end of maintained trail" sign and got some nice views of the valley facing away from the mountain, though the view of Rainier was mostly blocked by a ridge in between. Continuing up further didn't seem like it would change things much, so we decided to eat lunch and turn around.
We added the Emmons Moraine trail to our trip and it was well worth it! It only adds a mile and includes expansive views of Rainier, the valley below, and a milky blue lake (see attached picture). We went a little bit past the sign indicating the end of the maintained trail for Emmons Moraine but the best views were before it so that's a good spot to turn around.
Our hike clocked in at 8.67 miles and 2200ft elevation gain. Glacier Basin by itself is just shy of 7 miles and Emmons Moraine is 3 miles.
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