Glacier Basin, Emmons Moraine — Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2023

We had a fantastic day hiking to Glacier Basin! The lot was 3/4 full when we pulled in just after 9:00 AM.  It was 58 degrees with clear blue skies.  The perfect conditions for hiking! The entire trail was dry and hard packed except a couple small stream crossings.  Our group of 14 had the trail entirely to ourselves all the way to the basin.  Wildflowers are on full display, we saw vanilla leaf, queens cup, corral root, yellow and magenta monkey pod, blue bells, pearly everlasting, penstemon, paint brush, lousewort, sagifrax, thistle, cusick speedwell, shooting stars, Columbine and cow parsley. We arrived at the basin just before noon and wound our way down to the boulders in the river bed and spread out for a lunch break scattered among the boulders. A nice north breeze was coming down the mountain to keep things cool.  A few hikers were further up the basin toward InterGlacier and several groups behind us on the trail started arriving near Glacier Basin Camp when we started down at 12:45. Wildlife sightings were limited to a couple frogs, chipmunks and a few bird species were heard calling. The few bugs we encountered were not really bothersome. We passed one large group of 12 climbers and 3 smaller groups of 2 headed up to InterGlacier and Camp Sherman for Mt Rainier summit attempts in a couple days.  We took the side spur over to the Emmons Glacier overlook trail and found more eye catching views of the emerald green pond/lake, the White River headwaters coming out of the glacier moraine and a different view of Mt Rainier.  Many more day hikers were just starting out when we arrived back at the White River Camp Ground at 2:45.  Our out & back hike with the side spur was 8 miles with 1,750’ gain. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.