[Slugman]

After getting some good beta from the kind folks here, I was off to Mt Rainier NP at 5 am to beat the traffic (weekday). I had never been to Sunrise, so I checked out the area a bit then hit the trail to Sourdough Mtn at 8:30 am. Next it was over to Frozen lake, an unfrozen mud pit of no visual value at all, but it had some nice marmots in the area.

Large marmot on the Sourdough ridge trail before Frozen lake

Next up was Burroughs Mtn #1, an easy climb up a tundra-covered slope, with views down to the Wonderland trail.

Wonderland trail from Burroughs #1

I hung out at #1 for an incredibly long time, maybe two hours, until some non-English-speaking tourists showed up, but they knew how to use a digital camera and were very nice.

Fat Slug who couldn't get camera remote control to work, used a Norwegian tourist instead! Thanks, Bjorn!

Then it was down a bit and up a bit to Burroughs #2, where I caught a glimpse of my alternate destination choice, Grand Park, in the distance.

Grand park in the distance from Burroughs #2

Burroughs #2 was nice, and I toyed with the idea of turning back there and going to my first-ever fire lookout on Mt Freemont, but I didn't, and I sure was glad later. The hike up to B#3 was tougher, as this shows.

This is Burroughs #3 from saddle between #2 and #3.

Here's a shot looking back to #2 from about 1/2 way up #3:

Flat mesa in left distance is Burroughs #2, from 1/2 way up #3

Even in the moonscape surroundings, there were nice flowers, like this paintbrush, my favorite flower.

Paintbrush in moonscape area

Before getting to the summit of #3, I angled off to the left to get to the ridge edge and start the main course views a bit sooner. I saw these two great views of the Winthrop glacier:

Winthrop glacier no zoom

Winthrop glacier 3X zoom

I also was able to see some nice views down the White river, like this:

White river valley

I then went to both summits of B#3, not sure which was the highest, but had to go over the west summit to get to the east summit, and had to go there to get views down into Berkely park. I then cut straight down from there to the trail out, and turned right at B#1, returning via the Sunrise rim trail and Shadow lake. The area between the Emmons overlook and Shadow lake had the best flowers, a really great show.

Flowers near Shadow lake

Flowers at Emmons overlook area

My pictures just don't do justice to flowers, sorry. I especially liked the daisies, some yellow on yellow, some yellow on lavender. Oh, yeah, how about a shot of Rainier? OK:

Mt Rainier thru the mists....

That photo was taken with no zoom of any kind, optical or digital. With the 3x optical zoom, I was able to get shots with the climbers visible as tiny dots, but I figure you guys have seen tiny dots before... I spent perhaps two hours at B#3, and I could have spent more, it was fabulous. All told the hike was 10 miles, 2,800 VF, 12 hours spent on the trail, maybe 7 actually hiking. Bring the sunscreen, but leave the bug spray home. There was one mosquito, but I killed it, so you'll be OK. PS: the Flickr thing was easy as pie, it even resizes automatically at upload if you tell it to. A tip: if you use the Flickr "uploadr", always use it. If you just upload one picture using the default uploader on the picture page, it won't use the resize options you selected in the "uploadr".

[Tazz]

great Tr slug and great pics too I especially like the Rainier shot good job I am glad you enjoyed it. Worth it huh?

[Slugman]

Oh, yeah! I hobbled back to Sunrise at 8:30 pm, and today I broke a promise to Tanja to mow the lawn (sore heels), so it was a perfect trip! I really enjoyed hiking on an actual trail after the Robins last week.

[sarbar]

Burroughs is a great hike to get the "overlook" of the area And hey, loopys are my fave! Glad you got up there finally!

[polarbear]

Nice pictures Slugman!

[Slugman]

Thanks, PB. If you do this hike, or any Sunrise hike, start early to get the best light on the mountain. The best Rainier shot I took all day was from the road right before Sunrise at 7:45 am. Then during mid-day the light wasn't that great, but by early evening the light was perfect for the shots facing away from the mtn, like the one of White river. My digital camera, as well as my skills with it, are decent but basic. If the light's wrong, my shots won't be right. And the thought of fixing them one at a time in photoshop makes me want to take a nap.

[Snowshoe Hare]

That's why they call it Sunrise. BTW, the view just driving up the last mile or two before the big parking lot is world class IMO.

[reststep]

Great trip report and pictures Sluggo. The road to Sunrise is a great bicycle ride.

[Slugman]

I saw some bike riders going up, and as I passed a guy standing on the pedals I yelled out "Lance!" with the sunroof open, and he smiled. I figure if I ever go there with Tanja or other family, I'd take a bike and just ride down, whoohoo!

[sarbar]

Woo-Hoo right over the edge

[Slugman]

No way! I'm an expert rider. I could be a bike racer if it weren't for the whole "pedaling" part.

[Andrew]

You've done well Slugman! Like you mentioned, morning is probably the best time to photograph if you're anywhere north of Rainier. After that, the lighting is quite harsh. I was at Grand Park a few weeks ago and only caught a glimpse of the mountain for no more then a few minutes. Didn't matter much, the flowers weren't at their peak. Glad you enjoyed the trip and I hope to get up to Sunrise sometime.