Berkley Park and Second Burroughs Loop

Drove up to Sunrise at Mt Rainier National Park to hike this morning. I made a sort of loop by hiking up to Sourdough Ridge, past Frozen Lake along the Wonderland Trail and down through to Berkley Part to Berkley Camp. Then hiked back up to Frozen Lake and up to First and Second Burroughs and then returned to Sunrise via the Sunrise Rim Trail. Overall 11 miles with 2,500 gain.I would only see 9 other hikers in Berkley Park and the Burroughs did not seem crowded. I think Fremont Lookout was where most of the hikers weren't today. There were lots of wildflowers to see, but there will probably be more in the next few week. View of Mt Rainier as I hiked up to Sourdough Ridge.

One of the gaps to the north along Sourdough Ridge. To the far north were views of Mt Baker, Glacier Peak and Mount Stuart.

Wildflowers were blooming along Sourdough Ridge, view of First Burroughs in front of Mt Rainer.

There were nice clusters of penstemons in the rocks.

Another view of Mt Rainier behind First Burroughs

zoom of marmot on the slope below Sourdough Ridge

both pink and white heather along the trail

 

Frozen Lake, still had some snow.

There were a few easy to walk across snow patches on the Wonderland Trail to Berkley Park. On the way back, I would stuff some snow under my hat to cool off as the day warmed up.

Paintbrush 

Lupine and a bee

Phlox, alpine lupine anad cinquefoil on the upper slope of Berkley Park

alpine lupine

bistort

The squirrels and chipmunks were very busy today.

One of the creeks in Berkley Park

a cluster of lupine

lupine, valerian, cinqefoil and paintbrush

bog orchids

wildflowers along the creeks

Most of the avalanche lilies were in bloom closer to Berkley Camp

blooms along the trail

paintbrush and pasqueflower seedbeds in the upper park

view of Mount Fremont from upper Berkley Park

zoom of a distant Mt Baker to the far north 

view of Frozen Lake from the First Burroughs Trail

Mt Rainier and Second Burroughs from near the top of First Burroughs

wildflowers among the rocks

phlox on First Burroughs

Between First and Second Burroughs looking north to Berkley Park Below, Skyscraper Mountain to the left, Mount Fremont to the right.

zoom of a distant Glacier Peak and the lookout on Mount Fremont

more penstemon growing between the rocks on Second Burroughs

The first of two snowfields on the trail to the top of Second Burrough

Ahead the second of the two snow fields, this one had significant exposure.

The rangers had marked a route going up along the outer and upper edges of the snowfield.

The upper edge was beginning to develop snow bridges, so it was import to step carefully. I felt comfortable in boots on the way up, but used micro spikes coming back down later.

Pano of Mt Rainier from the top of Second Burroughs, Third Burroughs to the far right

Found a nice lunch spot and enjoyed the view

On the way down the Sunrise Rim Trail, I kept looking back and enjoying the views. I usually hike up this trail.

I love this wide angle view along the trail, including the teal tarn below in Glacier Basin and the water emerging from the snout of the Emmons Glacier.

There was this one snowfield on the north side of First Burroughs with significant exposure that had several hikers turn around and go back up First Burroughs and down the snow free north side. The sketchiest part was the approach to the cut trench further along. There were some decent foot steps. I was glad I had both poles and micro spikes.

View from the other end of the snow field, the trench made for easy footing, unfortunately it did not extend the length of the snow field.

There were some scattered beargrass blooms.

Shadow Lake

some of the wildflowers seen along the trails today: