Staircase Rapids Summer Hike

 My aunt and uncle were up visiting and we decided to do an easy hike. Thunderstorms were predicted for Mt Rainier so we headed out to Staircase in Olympic National Park about 15 miles from Hoodsport (on Hwy 101).
We did the loop hike starting from the ranger station we headed up the east side of the North Fork of the Skokomish River.

 After one mile, we crossed the bridge over the river to the west side.

 Instead of heading back down the other side, we turned up river on the west side. The flowers were no longer in bloom. But I love the different shades of green in the forest and these ghostly grey stems.

 We found a spot over looking the river to enjoy our lunch.

About 1.2 miles up from the bridge, we came to where Four Streams joins the Skokomish River and decided to turn around.
Enjoyed the forest and views of the river as we hiked downriver on the west side back to the ranger station (about 2.5 miles)

First, Second & Third Burroughs then returning via Burroughs Loop Trail on Mount Rainier

 We were up at Sunrise on Mt Rainier, at dawn,

 it was fascinating to watch the mountain change color as the sun rose.
We hiked to 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Burroughs, this time returning via the Burroughs loop trail to the Emmons Overlook and past Shadow Lake on our return to Sunrise. This is about a 10 mile hike with 2,500 total elevation gain.

 We headed up the Sourdough Ridge Trail on our way to First Burroughs (seen in front of Mt Rainier in this photo).

 When we reached Frozen Lake, we took the trail up to First Burroughs (about 2 miles from Sunrise).

 Then we headed up to Second Burroughs, most of the snow had melted off the trail since I was here 3 weeks ago.

 From here we could see the water melting off the Emmons Glacier, the headwaters to the White River.












Then we headed over to Third Burroughs. Enough snow had melted, that we could see the boot trail to the left of the snow fields. We didn't need to cross the snow on our way up this time.

 We had beautiful views of Mt Rainier and the Winthrop Glacier. So close from Third Burroughs.

Panoramic view of Mount Rainier from Third Burroughs:

 Panorama view from 3rd Burroughs looking west. Too much haze to see Puget Sound today.

Panorama view from 3rd Burroughs looking north to east. We saw Mt Baker, Glacier Peak, the Enchantments and Stewart Mt

 Looking west, we could see the water melting off the Carbon Glacier, also Mystic Lake.













 On the return hike, we stopped at 2nd Burroughs and watched mountain climbers coming down via Inter Glacier. From 1st Burroughs, we choose to return to Sunrise on the Burroughs Loop Trail, this portion also called the Emmons Overlook Trail. Here you can see the upper reaches of the White River

 Lots of great views of Mt Rainier along this trail. I think the next time I hike to the Burroughs, I will begin the hike by going past Shadow Lake and up the Emmons Glacier Overlook Trail, so I won't have these fabulous views to my back.

 From this view, you can see all 3 of the Burrough mountains to the right of Mt Rainier. Great view showing 3rd Burroughs closest to Mt Rainier, then 2nd Burroughs and then 1st Burroughs.

 We saw this marmot along the trail.

 Panorama View along the Emmons Glacier Trail:

 Shadow Lake

 Large frog in Shadow Lake

 Last view of Mt Rainier before returning to the parking lot at Sunrise.


















Here are some of the many wildflowers we saw on our hike today:

Tolmie Peak Mount Rainier

We drove up to Mowich Lake on the west side of Mt Rainier National Park for our hike today. Fabulous wildflowers in bloom. We parked right by the trailhead to Tolmie Peak and saw all these asters in bloom by the side of the road.

This is a 6 mile round trip hike with a total elevation gain of 1,700 ft (there is a bit of up and down on this trail).

The trail to Tolmie Peak leaves from the west end of Mowich Lake and follows the Wonderland Trail north towards Ipsut Pass. As we hiked around the west end of Mowich Lake, we had some glimpses of Mt Rainier across the lake through the trees.

At 1.2 miles and 100 ft elevation gain, the trail to Eunice Lake and Tolmie Peak leaves the Wonderland Trail 200 ft before reaching Ipsut Pass. The trail descends into the forest and crosses some screes and beautiful patch of wildflowers. The trail descends for about 0.6 miles and 200 ft.

We took lots of pictures of the flowers and enjoyed being in the shade for most of the hike on this hot day.

Shortly after the trail starts climbing up towards Eunice Lake (about 0.1 mile), there is a short spur towards an unnamed waterfall. A great place to cool off and see more wildflowers.

The trail to Eunice Lake goes up some steep switchbacks, climbing about 450 ft in 0.5 miles. As we neared the lake, we could see Tolmie Ridge in the distance, behind the fields of bear grass.

We decided to hike up to Tolmie Peak, before sitting besides Eunice Lake. The trail is only 0.9 miles from the junction with Eunice Lake to the lookout on Tolmie Peak. The first part of the trail is a gentle up and down going to the west side of Eunice Lake through fields of wildflowers.

At the far end of Eunice Lake, before climbing up to Tolmie Peak, we saw fields and fields of avalanche lilies.

From Eunice Lake, the trail climbs about 400+ ft, but the
views get better and better!

We sat in the shade of the lookout tower for a quick lunch break (the mosquitos were swarming), enjoying the view!















A panoramic view from the lookout tower:

After lunch, we hiked out towards the eastern end of Tolmie Peak.

More wildflowers along this boot trail and continuous views.

Before heading back down to Eunice Lake, we took the short spur trail to the other (west) end of Tolmie Peak.

We loved the mixture of colors and varieties of the wildflowers in bloom today.

















We returned to Eunice Lake to wade in the water and cool off and enjoy the rest of our lunch. Tolmie Peak seen in the background.

 We saw some salamanders swimming in the lake.

 When we returned to the Wonderland Trail, we hiked the 200 ft to look out over Ipsut Pass before returning to Mowich Lake.

Some of the beautiful wildflowers we saw today on our hike: