The Puget Sound area was cloudy today, but we found clear skies up at Sunrise on Mt Rainier, in the photo to the right you can see the clouds just below the parking area at Sunrise.
We were happy to see blue skies, Mt. Rainier and lots of wildflowers. The snow is melting out early at Sunrise this year, so we decided to hike out to Third Burroughs for fabulous views. The hike is 9 miles round trip and an overall elevation gain of about 2,500 ft with all the ups and downs.
This view is from Sourdough Ridge just above the parking area at Sunrise. The flat rise to the right of Mt Rainier is First Burroughs Mountain.
About 1.5 miles from the start of the trail lies Frozen Lake and the trail splits into several directions. Follow the trail up and to the left to First Burroughs.
We saw lots of chipmunks along the trail today.
From Frozen Lake, First Burroughs is about 1 mile, climbing an additional 400 ft. Here we are nearing the summit of First Burroughs, Mt Rainier in the background. Second Burroughs is to the near right, and Third Burroughs is just past Second Burroughs.
At the top of First Burroughs, looking at Second Burroughs and Mt Rainier.
From First Burroughs, the trail descends about 75 ft, before climbing about 300 ft in about 0.7 mile.
We saw a herd of mountain goats resting below the summit of Second Burroughs.
From the summit of Second Burroughs Mountain, looking at Mt Rainier and Third Burroughs in the foreground.
The trail descends about 350 ft to a plateau before climbing about 800 ft to the summit of Third Burroughs Mountain.
We would cross 3 snow fields on our way up Third Burroughs.
There were wildflowers along the way.
We were thrilled to reach Third Burroughs on this beautiful clear day! Mt Rainier was so close, I couldn't get it all in my camera frame.
We walked down from the summit Third Burroughs to it's southern edge to get close to Mt Rainier.
Panorama from Mt Rainier looking west.
Panorama from Mt Rainier looking east.
Close ups of crevices in Winthrop Glacier
Looking down into Glacier Basin before returning to Second Burroughs.
When we returned to Second Burroughs we saw the herd of mountain goats up and moving about.
This is one of my favorite hikes!
Some of the many wildflowers we saw on the hike today:
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