I was surprised at how many cars were in the parking lot by 10am. If you're headed up to Sunrise this summer, be warned that they are doing road construction on the whole east side through September, so be prepared to wait for up to 20 mins a pop at times.

I made my way down the Sunrise Rim trail towards Shadow Lake. After pausing for here for a few moments to grab a few pics of the perfect reflections in the lake, I then made my way over the the Burroughs Mountain Trail and started the climb up to First Burroughs.

The trail to Second and Third Burroughs were clear and open and the sun was out, making it an easy choice to stow my jacket and zip off the legs of my pants for the rest of the day. On the way back I decided to go through Frozen Lake and the Sourdough Ridge Trail. 

All in all, it's still a popular place, but by going to 2nd and 3rd, you will bypass most of the crowds.

Be a good human, have a mask handy, pulling it up as you pass others on the trail.

Got to the park entrance around 11:00 and had no problem getting through the pay booth on this sunny Sunday. There was a short line of cars at the lot and we had to wait 10-15 minutes before the ranger let us through. Gift shop and restrooms were open and a number of rangers were available to answer questions. 
We headed up Sourdough Ridge. I pulled out the bug spray after I was bit by a big black fly. Didn’t have any problems after that. This was the most crowded stretch of the day. Nice to see happy hikers!
When we stood at the Frozen Lake intersection I spotted a patch of white rocks at the top of Burroughs Mtn.  Glad I lugged the zoom lens because those white rocks were goats!
We headed down to Berkeley Park. Marmots were hanging out near the trail and the flowers just kept getting better and better.  We heard about a bear but didn’t see him.
We decided to return via Shadow Lake/Sunrise Camp.  There were two easy snow patches to cross.  No gear required but a hiking pole made it much easier. The flowers in this area were spectacular! Drop the mic spectacular! Quality and quantity spectacular! Go catch em if you can.

Fantastic day to spend at Sunrise.  Thankfully it was a bit cooler than last weekend, and there were far, far fewer mosquitoes out (though there were still a few).

Got to the Sunrise parking lot around 8AM.  Parking lot was about half full I would guess.  Restrooms were fully stocked.

Went up to the Sourdough ridge and out to Burroughs Mountain, a favorite hike of mine (when it's not insanely busy).  There were two small patches of snow still on the trail between First and Second Burroughs, both were easy to navigate (see photo below).  I stopped at Second Burroughs; looking at the trail to Third Burroughs there were a couple of longer snow patches, one of which looked to be on a steep slope, which is a bit beyond my comfort zone. That being said, there were a lot of people that were heading that direction.

Since I didn't finish out to Third Burroughs, and in an attempt to get away from the growing crowds, I decided to take the Wonderland Trail from the 5-way junction at Frozen Lake, around Sunrise Camp and Shadow Lake, then continued on the Sunrise Rim Trail to where it intersects with the Silver Forest Trail which I took out to the end of the maintained portion of that trail, then turned around and headed back to the Sunrise parking lot.

Coming down the Wonderland Trail from Frozen Lake, there are two longer patches of snow (see photo below).  They both had a main boot path that had gotten a bit slick.  The first patch I was able to go down the snow off to the side of the main boot path and get enough traction to get down with minimal issues.  The second patch was a bit more tricky, but doable. 

Other than that all trails were in good condition.  Lots of great views to be had, and a TON of wildflowers, especially along the Wonderland/Sunrise Rim/ Silver Forest trails. Saw a heard of mountain goats in the meadows at the top of First Burroughs and several marmots at the top of Second, along with an assortment of birds and chipmunks.

Also, for those with kids, the Silver Forest Trail would be a great option out of Sunrise.  It's not too long, mostly flat (but with enough up and down for older kids to feel like they're doing a "real" hike), and the majority of the trail doesn't have a steep drop off on one side (unlike a lot of other trails in the Sunrise area).  Though it is quite a bit dusty at the moment, so they won't stay clean... but isn't that part of the fun?

Overall it was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Arrived at Sunrise on Friday at 9:15am, parking lot was about 60-70% full. Flowers in full bloom, lupine EVERYWHERE. Sourdough offered up some amazing views of Rainier, bugs were not a problem until we reached Frozen Lake. Large flies will follow you up and down the trail and quickly become an annoyance, especially when stopping to drink water/eat a quick snack. The scramble up to the lookout got easier after the first initial steep climb up the hillside. Be careful on the rocky trail, I have bad hips and knees and I definitely felt it after returning to the car. Incredible views from the lookout, I would definitely recommend this hike for beginner hikers. I don't hike much and was able to complete this trek. About 50% of the groups we passed also wore masks when passing. When we returned to the parking lot at 12:30 it was full.

Berkeley Park is a world class wildflower area, it is a very good year for flowers there, and many sections of it have thick displays right now, details below.

Route: Sourdough Ridge to the Wonderland to the bottom of Berkeley Park, on the return, took the Wonderland down from Frozen Lake and then the road to the parking lot. I also did an out and back to Skyscraper Pass. On this sunny Friday, starting at 5 AM, I saw 5 groups in Berkeley Park and about 30 groups the rest of my hike.  

Snow: There is a snow crossing to get to Skyscraper Pass (see picture 4). It has dirty, well-defined, and level steps. It is inside of a ditch in the snow, if you did fall, you would stay in the ditch and would not slide down the field. Taking the Wonderland back from Frozen Lake, there are 2 snow fields. At 11 AM these were a little slushy/slippery, but were easy to descend (with boots and poles). 9 out of 10 people will be fine with these. 

Flowers: The flowers are really good throughout this whole route. Berkeley Park is amazing. The lupine and the heather in the upper section is just starting to fade, but the area is still beautiful. The second quarter of the park is very, very thick with colorful flowers, the video with the report is from this section. For a very clear view of what you'll see, the attached google album, with an abundance of videos, starts at the top of Berkeley Park and goes to the bottom (with a Skyscraper pika thrown in).   

Car counts at other trailheads around noon: Summerland-(about) 64, Owyhigh-19, Crystal Lakes/Peak-24, Ranger Creek-1, Dalles Creek-5