Rather than hiking Sourdough Ridge to Dege Peak from the busy trailhead at the Sunrise Visitor Center we began our hike from Sunrise Point (the viewpoint/parking lot/trailhead about 2.5 miles east of the Sunrise Visitor Center). On the north side of the road just above and slightly west of Sunrise Lake which is visible below, the trailhead onto Sourdough Ridge begins and parallels the road the entire way but just far and high above it enough that the noise of traffic quickly fades. From the very beginning this trail offers magnificent views north, is not too steep, is well maintained, direct and traverses through a beautiful subalpine forest and rocky cliffs/points as it gradually ascends. Once you leave the forest behind, the landscape opens up to beautiful wildflower filled meadows and to the south, breathtaking views of the Cowlitz Chimneys, Mt. Rainier and even as far as Mount Adams. A mile in, a .3 sign points right and uphill to Dege Peak which will be the most strenuous part of the hike, still easy. Every step takes you closer to the 360 degree glory that awaits at the top. Marmots and squirrels greeted us as we reached the peak. Incredible panoramic views from Dege Peak at last, take a moment here to break and rejoice in the magical landscape that surrounds you. A Clark's Nutcracker hung out with us at the top the entire time. Weather was absolute perfection. Lots of photo opps and overall one of the best hikes I've experienced at Rainier yet. The way back is a breeze as it is mostly downhill but still offers a good workout. Definitely a hike not to miss out on! 

Fremont Lookout: snow free; hot, no shade; mostly bug free, some bugs fly around the lookout but did not bite.  The last quarter mile of the trail or so is a 4-foot-wide foot path along a talus cliff, with some exposure.   It is amazing how the rest of Western Washington is cloudy today, while you can see for miles here: Gorgeous 360 view of Rainier and the Cascades (Mt Stuart, etc) in the morning.   

Clouds rolled in from the south and covered Rainier shortly after noon. 

Burroughs: alpine tundra, bug free.  About 50 yards of snowfield to get to First; minor snowfield to cross to Second; Third has much larger snowfield to cross.  Despite the cool down with the clouds, Snow is soft.  For me the snowfield to First is the most dangerous, you essentially traverse the side of a 45 degree snow slope, although the potential drop is only thirty feet, a fall or slip could hurt .  The snowfield on Third is long but rather flat; and the steeper snow slope near the top is short.  I made round-trip with hiking poles and a pair of old Reebok sneakers, Poles are especially useful.  

In the afternoon I saw only a total of 5 people on Third Burroughs, no more than 3 on the top at the same time.   Despite the cloud, the view of the Winthrop Glacier and volcanic rocks and the lush green valley down below is hauntingly beautiful.  Reminds me of the source of Amazon River in Peruvian Andes. 

On return trip I saw a herd of 12 adult and 4 baby mountain goats, grazing between Second and Third Burroughs.   Also saw at least half a dozen chipmunks today.  There are flowers everywhere, although nothing spectacular yet, Indian Paintbrush and Lupine are just starting. 

Strava ate my batteries; so round trip is an estimate: Sunrise - Sourdough Ridge - Frozen Lake - Fremont Lookout - Frozen Lake - First - Second - Third Burroughs - Second - First - Frozen Lake - Sourdough Ridge - Sunrise is roughly 12.5 miles / 3200 ft eg.

Decided last minute to head up to the mountain and take some noobs on their first hike! A good first hike for most folks, I'd say. Way less snow than I thought there would be coming out of Sunrise on the Sourdough Ridge trail, but still a fair amount of snow. Pretty well kicked in, nothing to really worry about. Fremont trail had one tiny patch of snow at the very beginning and then a little snowfield up toward the very top that was well kicked in. Might be a little scary when it starts to melt. My buddy did it in Vans and his girlfriend did it in Nikes, so really this hike is doable for anyone and everyone from here on out!

Took lots of pics on my DSLR that I am too lazy to go get out of my car and upload right now.

We decided to spend our Fourth checking out the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park.  

We hooked onto the Sourdough Ridge trail to approach the Burroughs trail.  This trail is in great shape with just a few snow patches to cross.  They are easy to navigate and will be melted out soon.

We knew that we would be facing some steep snow on the Burroughs Trail and it did not disappoint.  The climb to the first Burroughs requires a traverse across a steep slope.  A fall from the upper reaches of the slope could be problematic.  There was a bootpath on the slope that was pretty well worn but drops you off short of the actual trail so you will want to continue to traverse along the snow until you come across the trail.  This traverse will have you continue to be on a steep side slope.

My trio had a combination of crampons, microspikes and/or ice axes and made it up the slope fairly easily.  Two of us were wearing trail runners with traction and felt comfortable. The upper portion of the mountains are basically snow free so once you ascend the snowfield you are clear for a while.

We attempted to do the loop but on the backside came across a snowfield across the trail that was very steep and we felt it not worth traversing.  I could have done it on my own but my two companions did not feel comfortable.  We re-traced our steps.  The descent on the initial snowfield went fine but a group we came across that did not have traction devices turned around after having heard of the conditions and were forced to slowly inch their way down the slope.

Long story short, grab the spikes/crampons and have some poles or ice axe to make this journey a bit safer.

On Saturday we hiked to Skyscraper Pass!  I've included a few other sections we travels or had good view of, as well!

We left the car at 8 am.  Sourdough ridge has many patches of snow, but most are safe and easy to cross.  There are a few that are a little steep, especially closer to Frozen Lake.  The steep snow patches continue, and some even get sketchier, the closer we got to Skyscraper.  There are several that we wouldn't have been comfortable with at least pole, but were extremely grateful for our microspikes, and we kept them on a majority of the hike.  The later in the day it got, the more packed in the foot tracks were and the easier they were to pass through.

Fremont Lookout seemed as if there was no snow past the 5-way junction at Frozen Lake.
Grand Park, from above, appeared to be snow free, as well.  
Burroughs still has a significant amount of snow, and looked like something we wouldn't want to tackle until more snow melted, although there were several hikers enjoying that trail the same day.

We stopped at a very nice pile of rocks right in front of Skyscraper Mountain.  The ridge approaching it looked a little sketchy, so we decided to not summit today.  Views from out resting spot were amazing none-the-less!

We saw a few critters throughout the day!  We saw a Mountain Bluebird early in the morning, but I was too slow to capture a photo.  We saw a couple of marmots, several chipmunks, and 2 small groups of goats from a distance (including 2 adults with 2 babies!)

Overall wonderful day, so glad that Sunrise is finally open for the season!