High Skyline Loop

Drove up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park to hike the High Skyline Loop Trail. Started at the lower parking area at the Deadhorse Creek Traihead and went counterclockwise towards Myrtle Falls and Mazama Ridge, overall 6 miles and 1,785 ft of gain. Lovely day, staying abouve the clouds. Early view of Mt Rainier near the trailhead

View of Mt Rainier from Myrtle Falls

Edith Creek

View of some Tatoosh Peaks and a waterfall along the trail towards Mazama Ridge

A couple of small falls along the Paradise River and view of Mt Rainier on the trail up Mazama Ridge

Squirrel on rocks before a lovely view of Mt Rainier

Crossing the Paradise River as the trail continues up from Mazama Ridge

zoom of two of the many marmots seen along the trail continuing up

Views from the high point on the High Skyline Loop Trail, Tatoosh Peaks to the south, Mt Rainier to the north

View of Mt Rainier from the Pebble Creek Trail, which bypasses Panorama Point on the way down the otherside of the loop

View of Mt Rainier from down along the Deadhorse Creek Trail

As I continued down the Deadhorse Creek Trail, I saw another marmot, a grouse and butterflies

Although most of the meadows had gone to seed, there were still some wildflowers in bloom, along with fungi and berries:

Second Burroughs

We drove up to Sunrise at Mt Rainier National Park to hike up to Second Burroughts.We went up via the Sunrise Rim Trail past Shadow Lake, then taking the Burroughs Mountain Trail clockwise up above Glacier Basin. We returned down the other side of First Burroughs past Frozen Lake and across Sourdough Gap, making a loop (with a side trip to Second Burroughts), overall 6.4 miles with 1,670 ft of gain. Gorgeous views, wildflowers and we saw a distant mountain goat, all together a fabulous day! View of Mt Rainier from the Sunrise Rim Trail

Lots of wildflowers in bloom along the Sunrise Rim Trail

Above: chipping sparrow Below: Shadow Lake photos

Views as we headed up the Burroughs Trail abover Glacier Basin

Above: view of Second Burroughs and Mt Rainier from First Burroughs. Below: views to the north from First Burroughs

view as we headed up to Second Burroughs

View of Mt Rainier from our lunch spot on Second Burroughs

Heading down First Burroughs with views of Mount Fremont and Frozen Lake

View of Mt Rainier from Sourdough Ridge with red paintbrush dotting the slope below us

Fuzzy zoom of a mountain goat we saw across a meadow from Sourdough Gap

View to the north along one of the openings on Sourdough Ridge

Some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today: