Burroughs Mountain Hike at Mount Rainier

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Yeah, the golden mantled ground squirrels around the Burroughs are very friendly. They might try climbing up your leg. I've seen marmots and ptarmigan around that area. There is a group of mountain goats around Fremont Lookout sometimes but as mentioned you probably won't get very close to them. I don't know what's up with goats in Olympic NP. I've had a number of VERY up close encounters w/ goats several places in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. As long as you don't do something really dumb, they probably won't give you any trouble. Where they are acclimated to people they are pretty mellow and tolerant.

I think you'll be able to see Frozen Lake at some point descending from the Burroughs, you can't miss it. It's in a wide open flat area w/ no trees around. Trail up to First and Second Burroughs is easy to follow and frequently traveled. If I remember correctly the trail is a little bit more faint continuing on to Third, and doesn't see as much foot traffic, but still not difficult to get up there.

[tbritt2112]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm gonna search for a trail map online as I may get to Sunrise before the visitor center opens.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Maps are always good to have. That whole area is really wide open. I think Sunrise is over 6000', essentially you're above treeline before you even start hiking.

The main trail leaving Sunrise takes you directly to Frozen Lake. That's a crossroads, multiple trail junctions at the lake. You can go up to Fremont Lookout, continue on the Wonderland Trail towards Mystic Lake (that's a LONG dayhike), go up to the Burroughs, or take an alternate return to Sunrise via Shadow Lake.

[adamschneider]

Just print a screenshot from CalTopo's "MapBuilder Topo" layer, which helpfully includes relief shading and mileages between junctions: https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=46.9132 ... z=15&b=mbt

[drm]

The trail is in the wide open alpine terrain, so navigation is not an issue. And in August you certainly won't be alone, it's a popular route. So all those people also means no getting lost and no dangerous animals. The end on top of B3 has one of the more in-your-face views of Rainier.

If after all those views and people, you're in the mood for something different, there is a trailhead just below Sunrise to Upper Palisade Lake. There are no views of Rainier so that keeps the crowds down. But pretty meadows and many small lakes along the 3 mile trail make for a nice change.

[tbritt2112]

Hey, thanks for the tips everyone. We dont have alpine terrain here. I live 5 minutes from Wrightsville Beach, NC. We do have nice beaches and in the Summer the beach water tops out at around 82 degrees.

I was at Sunrise back in 2004, but my Son was too young to do any hiking. The main purpose of that trip was to visit Bruce Lee's gravesite in Seattle. Im a lifelong fan of his. His son, Brandon, actually died in my hometown of Wilmington, NC. This will be my 4th trip to the PNW.

[cfm]

I had a fun time hiking up to Skyscraper Peak from the Wonderland- it's an easy scramble. I looked across at Fremont and there was a conga line on the trail, and about 50 people milling around the summit. I shared my summit with 2 goats, no humans. I then went cross country south to the saddle between 2nd and 3rd Burroughs, it looked a little intimidating from afar, but just follow the goat hair! Wide open country.

Here is the view south from Skyscraper across to the Burroughs saddle. I followed along the R side of that ridge. Little Tahoma upper right.

[drm]

Wait, the Sunrise Road is not open yet. How did you get up there?

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I don't think that's a current TR drm, that pic looks way too melted out for this time of year. Still plenty of snow around the 4,000' level around much of the state and Sunrise is over 6,000'.

[drm]

I don't think that's a current TR drm . . .

Duh - thanks.