A great flower-filled hike right now, with far fewer hikers than most trails at Sunrise.  I've included a 4min video of hike highlights below..

Road: Beautiful easy drive and no reservation needed IF you arrive before 7am.

Trail: beautiful and easy, no issues

Crowds: Starting at 6am, only encountered 2 hikers coming down and 2 on top.  During 3 hrs on the summit, only 6 more hikers arrived.  When I headed down at 11am I passed 20-30 heading up.

Wildflowers: Most at peak right now, altho lillies are gone and pasqueflowers have gone into seed pod stage.. Lupine, columbine, saxifrage, phlox, penstemon, sitka valerian, lousewort, cow parsnip, arnica and others all at peak bloom!

Bugs: with Deet on board, the flies and mosquitoes on the summit were no problem.  They disappeared when the wind was present.

Scenery: probably the best uninhibited view from any Park trail looking North-Northeast.  Slight haze, but I could see Baker and Stuart faintly.  Hundreds of closer summits with crystal clear views!

Hiked the Dege Peak today. Nice summer hike in cloudy weather while the mountain was out. Mt Adams was also visible. Many beautiful flowers along the way, and one part with many bear grass. Saw 4 big elk down the valley on the other side, one of them had very very big antler, then a solo goat between the peak and the sunrise point parking lot. Many Pikas in the rocks below the peak. Their color looked darker than what I usually saw.

Not much to add to other reports except that the bugs were far worse in the parking lot than they were on the top of Dege.

Arrived just before 7AM and the lot was 3/4 full. It was much emptier when I left about 3PM (I did Burroughs, too), yet the entrance station below had all the signs up claiming the lot was full and they were not allowing anyone except timed entry into the park....I got a problem with that.

If there's plenty of room to park, then they should allow drop-ins! If people want to take the chance (or aren't aware of timed entry) and there's plenty of space, then they shouldn't be turned away from the national park simply because they didn't reserve a space ahead of time!

This was my first time visiting Sunrise since the new reservation system went into effect, so I was curious how it affected early morning hikers with no plans to get reservations (like me!). I arrived at the White River entrance shortly after 6:30am, Rangers were present at the entrance, and there were only a few cars ahead of me. The Sunrise parking lot was a little over a third full when I arrived on this gorgeous summer Thursday. Bathrooms were open, clean, and stocked, and the Visitor Center was open when I returned to my car just after 9am. 

Trail to Dege is in good condition, the mountain was out and wildflowers are abundant.  Pasqueflower, paintbrush, phlox, heather, lupine, dandelion, aster, arnica, cinquefoil, Jacob's ladder, bluebells, columbine and others blooming. Spent a lovely snack break at the Peak taking in the 360 views, and was fortunate to spy a large herd of elk in the valley below. As always, a day visiting the majestic Tahoma never disappoints! Happy Hiking! 

We were committed to hiking at Mount Rainier as I had reserved an entry permit months ago.  Not something I would have done if I'd known it was going to be a heat advisory/red flag day, but we were still all in adjusting plans as we went.  Fortunately the threat of smoke from the north west did not materialize and we had a grand day.  Arriving at 10:00 I think that was the first day I've ever gotten out of the car at Sunrise without needing to layer up.  I did take my wind jacket and didn't even need that.  Sun and bug protection are a must right now.  Parking in the main lot was around three quarters full which surprised me as were only the second shift of the day, perhaps lots of people are coming in before 7:00.

Not wanting a busy hike we took the trail to Dege Peak; once you turn right at the first intersection you leave the crowds behind.  The ridge hike offers a breeze which came and went as we passed the gaps between the ridge outcroppings.  Flowers are close to peak, still lots of green stems but most of those are for the late season asters.  Butterflies were everywhere.  Early flowers are done with Pasque flowers at the fluffy seed head stage.  I don't really think of the meadows above Sunrise as class A mountain meadows it is just too exposed and the pumice soil too demanding there but right now everything the meadow has you get to enjoy.  The trail to Dege Peak is a mellow one with just a bump up to moderate in the last quarter mile right before the peak.  Very few humans, very many bugs at the peak but the views are amazing. 

Coming back down we made the decision to return to the parking lot for lunch at the picnic tables before continuing down to Shadow Lake to make a loop, that did not work.  The pic-nic area is nice, lots of hidden tables and with a bit of spray we had an insect-uninterrupted lunch.  After eating we hiked around to the start of the service road (you have to go around the front of the visitors center to get there - no secret back trails), only to find it closed and staffed.  It's an official, but temporary, closure as endangered wildlife are raising babies there right now.  Not wanting to hike down and then back up on the Shadow Lake trail we opted to extend our hiking day on the Silver Forest trail instead.  The flowers here are also at peak and the views down to the Emmons moraine vast and deep.  It was hotter and busier and the narrow trail makes passing a bit of a chore but it is summer in a national park.  All in our mileage was around seven and we still had time left to drive over to take a spin up to Tipsoo Lake as well.