Tag: Frozen Lake

Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain (Mt. Rainier ) – 08/05/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 12, 2025
No Comments on Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain (Mt. Rainier ) – 08/05/2025

After getting replacement tires and hiking some of the trails in the Paradise Area on Monday (post) we headed for Mount Rainier’s Sunrise Area early Tuesday morning. Timed entry reservations are required to enter the Sunrise Corridor from 7am thru 5pm in 2025, so we made sure we were plenty early to avoid needing one.

We left Packwood, WA a little before 5am and stopped at Sunrise Point just before 5:45am to catch the tail end of the actual sunrise.

Alpenglow on Mt. Rainier.

Mt. Adams behind Barrier Peak

The view NE.

After the spectacular sunrise we continued up Sunrise Road and parked near the Sunrise Visitor Center.

Our first visit to Mount Rainier had been a 4-day backpacking trip (post) on the Northern Loop which began from Sunrise. Our first 1.6-miles followed our route from that trip following a “Trail Access” pointer to a wide trail next to a signboard.

There was no fog as there had been the day before, so we had good views as we climbed through open meadows toward Frozen Lake.

Looking back at the Sunrise Day Lodge.

Western pasque flowers and Mt. Rainier.

There is good signage throughout the park.

Parry’s arnica

Pine siskin

We went left when we reached the top of Sourdough Ridge.

A short distance along the ridge we were alerted to a herd of elk below in Huckleberry Basin.

There are at least seven elk visible in this photo.

A cow and three calves.

The trail climbed up along Sourdough Ridge and past Frozen Lake to a 5-way junction. The wildflowers on this side of the mountain are not as profuse as they are in the Paradise Area but there was still a nice variety of flowers in bloom.

False hellebore

A few remaining phlox flowers.

Paintbrush and aster

Rainiera

Pearly everlasting with a few paintbrush intermixed.

Harebells

Alumroot

Goldenrod

Lousewort and partridgefoot

First pika of the day.

Golden fleabane

Dwarf lupine

Penstemon and alpine false dandelions.

Catchfly

Frozen Lake which supplies water to the Sunrise area and is off-limits to visitors.

The 5-way junction. The Wonderland Trail is the first to the left and continues straight ahead. The Burroughs Mountain Trail is the second to the left heading uphill toward Mt. Rainier. To the right is the Mount Fremont Trail.

When we hiked the Northern Loop we had gone straight on the Wonderland Trail from this junction. Today’s plan was to head right to the Fremont Lookout then return to this junction and head out the Burroughs Mountain Trail returning to Sunrise via Shadow Lake.

We headed for the Fremont Lookout which was 1.3-miles away. After a brief initial steep climb the trail eased up and gradually climbed along the open hillside.

We took the righthand fork.

Passing above Frozen Lake.

Shrubby cinquefoil

The Burroughs Mountain Trail on the far hillside.

Heading up.

Frozen Lake behind.

The Fremont Lookout at the end of the ridge ahead.

The views from this trail were impressive as was the number of pikas living along the rocky hillside.

Looking back at Mt. Rainier.

Skyscraper Mountain directly ahead.

Pika

The rock fin in the foreground was pretty cool.

Yellow-bellied marmot

Penstemon

The trail eventually came to the top of the ridge as it neared the lookout.

The lookout is on the other side of the knoll ahead.

From the ridge we could see a ridge to the east where a herd of mountain goats was hanging out.

Heather pointed out this group in the rocks.

We took a break at the lookout taking in the views. It was chilly enough that we were eventually prompted to continue on.

Mount Rainier from the Fremont Lookout. Berkley Park is the green area below where the Northern Loop Trail climbs up to meet the Wonderland Trail.

The West Fork White River (post) below to the left. The plateau to the right is Grand Park (post).

The Mount Fremont Trail along the hillside with Little Tahoma to the right.

Chipmunk. Always begging but we will not be swayed. Please do not feed the animals no matter how cute they are.

Golden-mantled ground squrriel

Rocky Mountain goldenrod and alpine sandwort.

Paintbrush

Talus collomia

We made our way back down to the Burroughs Mountain Trail and began another 1.3-mile climb to Second Burroughs Mountain.

Bird’s beak lousewort

Cusick’s speedwell and white mountain heather.

Mt. Rainier beginning to come into view.

Looking across at the Mount Fremont Trail. The lookout is visible on the left shoulder of the middle peak.

Mount Rainier and Second Burroughs Mountain from First Burroughs Mountain.

I had gotten ahead of Heather and missed a mountain goat that peered over the hillside above her on the trail.

Our return trail, the Sunrise Rim Trail, met the Burroughs Mountain Trail on First Burroughs Mountain.

Berkeley Park from First Burroughs.

The Burroughs Mountain Trail dropped to a saddle between First and Second Burroughs Mountains then made a relatively steep climb to the top of Second Burroughs Mt.

Looking back at the saddle.

Heading up Second Burroughs.

The Goat Rocks (post) to the south.

Gilbert Peak, Goat Citadel, Littel Horn, Chimney Rock and Old Snowy Mountain in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

Glacier Peak to the north beyond the Fremont Lookout.

All of my maps showed the Burroughs Mountain Trail dropping down from Second Burroughs and steeply descending to the Inter Fork River below Glacier Basin, however a trail does extend to Third Burroughs Mountain. That would have added three miles and over 1150′ of cumulative elevation gain to the day. That would have been tempting had we not already hiked up to the lookout, but since we had and we had another three days of hiking ahead of us we declared victory at Second Burroughs.

First Burroughs and the Inter Fork.

Emmons Glacier

Old Desolate Mountain to the left and Sluiskin Mountain to the right.

Bench on Second Burroughs.

Not sure if this is a thrush or something else (Merlin thought it was a horned lark but that doesn’t look right at all.)

After a nice break on Second Burroughs we headed back to First Burroughs and the Sunrise Rim Trail.

Pink mountain heather

Tundra aster

Lenticular cloud forming over Mt. Rainier.

The Sunrise Rim Trail junction.

We turned right on the Sunrise Rim Trail. This trail descended for 1.4-miles to the Wonderland Trail near Sunrise Camp and Shadow Lake.

A buckwheat

The lenticular cloud was growing.

Lupine and lousewort covered the hillside in spots.

Goldenrod and yarrow

As far as I can tell this unnamed lake isn’t shown on any maps.

Silverback luina

Dwarf mountain ragwort

Narrow sepal phacelia

Sourdough Ridge ahead.

Aster

Orange agoseris

Checkerspot

As we neared the Wonderland Trail we reentered the tree line where the wildflower display really picked up.

Sunrise Camp below along with the Wonderland Trail.

Old cabin near Sunrise Camp.

The Wonderland Trail heading toward Frozen Lake.

A short distance beyond Sunrise Camp we arrived at Shadow Lake.

Bistort and other flowers at Shadow Lake.

Lupine and elephants head

Shadow Lake

We stayed on the Wonderland Trail for another 0.7-miles beyond Shadow Lake then forked left for 0.6-miles to return to the Sunrise parking area.

Cinquefoil

More clouds forming. As nice as it was today Wednesday’s forecast called for showers all day with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Clark’s nutcrackers

We forked left a second time at a junction with the Silver Forest Trail.

Sunrise Visitor Center

After dropping off our packs we took a moment to explore the Visitor Center before heading back to Packwood.

This was interesting although neither of us had it in us to actually attempt to jump.

This hike clocked in at 9.3-miles with a little over 2000′ of elevation gain.

This was another amazing hike with huge views, plenty of wildflowers, and a lot of wildlife. It was also less crowded than the Paradise Area had been. I don’t know if that is a result of the timed entry reservation system or simply our choice of trails but there were plenty of moments of solitude during this hike. We had an early dinner at Cruiser’s Pizza back in Packwood (they have a full menu in addition to pizza) and worked on finalizing our plan for Wednesday’s hikes. With rain showers in the forecast for the entire day we did some shuffling of our planned hikes and made Wednesday a waterfall Wednesday. We were happy with our new schedule for the remainder of the week and were looking forward to the rest of the hikes. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain

Hiking Mt. Rainier Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Mt. Rainier National Park – Northern Loop Trail Day 4

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 21, 2015
1 Comment on Mt. Rainier National Park – Northern Loop Trail Day 4

I had another night of poor sleep as my stomach decided to mutiny shortly after 11pm so I was happy to finally see the sky begin to lighten in the morning. After having breakfast and packing up we left Fire Creek Camp and climbed back up to the Northern Loop Trail.

We had over 2000 feet of elevation gain ahead of us again today but we were feeling surprisingly good as we set off. We were tired but at the same time we both felt like we could do this for at least a few more days. It was encouraging since someday we’d like to do a long trip when we have the time.

We had just over a mile and a half climb to reach Grand Park. Along the way we a couple of viewpoints offered great views of Mt. Rainier.

Grand Park lived up to its name. Despite the dry weather it was still an impressive sight and the views of Mt. Rainier were spectacular.

As we were passing through one of the smaller meadows we noticed that there was frost on some of the plants. It was funny how excited we got seeing the frost. It has been such a hot and dry year that the sight of the frost was a welcome sight.

After leaving Grand Park the trail headed down a ridge.

We had been able to see the trail far up the valley climbing out of Berkeley Park and here we were heading downhill.

The trail eventually stopped dropping and began climbing again below Mt. Freemont. Lodi Creek was on the opposite side of the trail between Mt. Freemont and Skyscraper Mountain. We passed through several small meadows with views of Skyscraper Mountain where we spotted a mountain goat.

We spotted a second mountain goat on the cliffs of the mountain a little further along the trail.

As we passed Berkeley Park Camp we found more frost covered plants and even saw a small pool with a thin layer of ice.

The trail continued to climb up the valley along the increasingly scenic Lodi Creek. We popped out of the shadow of Mt. Freemont into sunlight filled meadows and quickly warmed up.

As we neared the top of the valley we spotted a pair of marmots on the hillside. They were hilarious to watch especially when one of them plopped itself down on a rock and spread out its legs.

When we arrived at the Wonderland Trail I realized that I had forgotten that there would still be more climbing to do. I had been thinking we would be heading downhill from that point on and was disappointed when I realized my mistake. The .7 mile climb to Frozen Lake was probably the hardest for me because I had planned on coasting downhill at that point, but once we had reached the lake I was over my mistake and back to enjoying the scenery.

Near the lake I happened to say the word “goat” and two girls nearby freaked out. They thought I had spotted one and they really wanted to see one. They were disappointed to learn that I hadn’t really seen one and even more disappointed to learn that we had seen two on Skyscraper Mountain from Berkeley Park because that was where they had come from. We left them by the lake and turned up the Sourdough Ridge Trial. Shortly after doing so we did spot another goat. Three to be exact, a nannie and two kids.

We looked back to see if they were following but they hadn’t come around the bend yet. Heather considered running back to tell them about the goats but there was no guarantee that she could reach them before the goats disappeared.

We stopped a couple of times along the trail to take in the view to the north. This was the furthest north we’d been while hiking and were seeing Cascade peaks that we had never seen before including the snowy Glacier Peak.

After getting some pictures of the new mountains we began our final descent. The trail was full of hikers huffing uphill from Sunrise. We couldn’t believe how many people there were and we were becoming anxious to reach the car, get cleaned up, and escape the crowds. It was such a stark contrast to the peacefulness of the Northern Loop Trail.

We dropped our packs off at the car and then stepped into the snack bar to get a cold drink and a souvenir. We had discussed chocolate milk on the trail after some muddy water had reminded us of the drink and it had sounded really good. We wound up leaving the snack bar with the most expensive chocolate milk we’ve ever had. Mine was gone before we even got back to the car.

I don’t know when we’ll get back up to Mt. Rainier but I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of that National Park. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157655104282083

Tags berkeley park, fire creek camp, Frozen Lake, glacier peak, grand park, hiking, lodi creek, marmot, Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier National Park, mountain goat, mt freemont, skyscraper mountain, Washington

Hiking Mt. Rainier Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Mt. Rainier National Park – Northern Loop Day 1

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 20, 2015
3 Comments on Mt. Rainier National Park – Northern Loop Day 1

At the beginning of the year Mt. Rainier National Park was near the top of our list of places we still needed to visit. On our initial hiking schedule I put down four days at Mt. Rainier and began researching possible hikes. The Northern Loop Trail looked to be the perfect choice coming in at close to 40 miles. We decided to submit a request for the necessary wilderness permits in hopes that we would be lucky enough to acquire them. In order to camp in the parks wilderness we needed to have permits and the number of permits are limited due to the limited number of designated camp sites available. The park began accepting permit applications on March 15th and ours was in the mail that day. All requests submitted between 3/15 and 3/31 were collected and on April 1st they began to process them. We found out on May 1st that our application had been accepted and our planned itinerary approved. We had requested Thursday 8/13/15 thru Sunday 8/17/15 with our camp sites being Mystic Camp, Yellowstone Cliffs Camp, and Fire Creek Camp.

We had been excited about the possibility of this trip even before finding out that we got our permits and that excitement only grew when we got the good news. As the date of our trip approached we kept a close eye on wildfire and weather information. Although it has been a bad year for fires none were affecting the park which was good news. The weather news was a little less exciting. The forecast called for a chance of showers or thunderstorms Thursday afternoon and evening and rain on Friday, possibly up to half an inch. There was also a slight chance of showers Saturday morning before becoming sunny for the rest of the weekend. We had our reservations though so we made sure we had plenty of waterproof gear before heading to the park.

The weather was beautiful when we arrived at the Sunrise Visitors Center on Thursday morning. Mt. Rainier was as massive as we’d been led to believe and we couldn’t wait to get started.

We took the Sourdough Ridge Trail up toward the Wonderland Trail (the 93 mile trail that loops the entire mountain) marveling at the views along the way.

In a typical year the flower displays would have been near their peak but just like the rest of the Pacific Northwest they had bloomed at least a month earlier than normal. It didn’t matter though because the scenery and views were spectacular and the few flowers that remained gave us an idea of what it might look like in full bloom.

We met the Wonderland Trail near Frozen Lake. This lake acts as a domestic water supply and was roped off.

Two other trails met at the junction, the Mt. Freemont Trail and the Burroughs Mountain Trail. Both of these looked interesting but would have to wait for another day.

We took the Wonderland Trail which passed below Burroughs Mountain where we spotted over two dozen mountain goats lounging in the shade of the cliffs.

We continued down to another junction, this one with the Northern Loop Trail. This would be our return route to complete the loop on Sunday.

From the Wonderland Trail we had a good view of the climb that awaited us on that final day.

The Wonderland Trail then climbed to a pass on a ridge below Skyscraper Mountain where we took our first snack break where we were joined by a marmot.

From the pass the trail then headed downhill into a forest passing Granite Creek Camp.

We were on our way down to the Winthrop Glacier and to a crossing of Winthrop Creek. The sky had become rather hazy by the time we made it down to the glacier making it difficult to see the mountain. The glacier was much larger than any we’d been around on other mountains in the Cascades.

We passed under Garda Falls which was hidden from the trail, but after crossing Winthrop Creek on a foot bridge and climbing a bit we could look back and see the falls in the forest.

We climbed out of the glacial outwash plain and back into the forest.

Shortly after reentering the forest we arrived at a sign announcing Mystic Camp where we picked out a site and set up camp.

The camp was below Old Desolate and near Mystic Lake. The rocks on Old Desolate were very interesting.

After setting up camp we headed up the trail to Mystic Lake. It was a pretty alpine lake nestled between Mineral Mountain and Old Desolate. The lake shore was dotted with gentians.

We decided to have our dinner at the lake but hadn’t brought it with us so Heather headed back to camp to get our stove and food. When she got back she told me she met a doe and her two fawns along the trail. After dinner we headed back to camp and discovered the deer were still in the small meadow where she had seen them earlier.

Back at camp we found another deer. This one was a buck who was leisurely passing through camp eating as he went.

The showers had never materialized as we turned in for the night. We did hear a couple of rumbles of thunder during the night but never saw any lightning and it never did rain. It had been a great start to the trip and we were looking for to the rest of it. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157657389155121