Sunrise Rim Trail, Burroughs Mountain & Sourdough Ridge — Saturday, Sep. 16, 2023

This was a 7.3 mile loop from Sunrise down to Shadow Lake, up the Rim Trail to 1st Burroughs, out to 2nd Burroughs and back to 1st, then down to Frozen Lake, and back to Sunrise via Sourdough Ridge. Weather started out hazy-clear, warm, with a cloud cap developing over the summit. Clouds started moving in from the SW during the afternoon. Trails are in good condition, dusty and dry. Bees, chipmunks and ground squirrels are busy and there are a few flies. Sunning marmots. A herd of mountain goats on the meadows between Burroughs and Fremont. Red tailed hawks soaring. My wife stayed at Shadow Lake for an hour and counted 13 juvenile salamanders in the water. Wildflowers are in seed-spreading mode and meadows are dry. It is feeling like fall. The day lodge is already closed and shuttered for winter. A beautiful Cascade fox with silver-tipped black coat trotted by the trail just above the visitors center. Parking lot was full or nearly so at 8 am. Lots of hikers on Sourdough and Burroughs, and visible on Fremont trail but not feeling crowded.