Day 4 - Saturday 7/28/2018 - Burroughs Hike from Sunrise
No one was up early this morning and Scott’s alarm woke us all up at 6:20. I don’t think anyone actually got moving til 6:40. We got ready and was out the door by 7:20 or so. We drove up to Sunrise and started the hike towards Frozen Lake at 8:30. Our goal for today was to make it to the Second Burroughs. We decided to hike to Frozen Lake via the Sourdough Ridge Trail then the Burroughs Mountain Trail up to the Second Burrough then take the Sunrise Rim Trail / aka: South Burroughs Mountain Trail to Sunrise Camp and back down to Sunrise Visitor Center. This was a day that was text book for hiking; a cool breeze, clear skies, no bugs!
The trail to Frozen Lake was very front heavy on elevation with us climbing straight out of the Sunrise Visitor Center up onto an amazing ridge before settling in to a more level hike over to the lake.
The trail to Frozen Lake was very front heavy on elevation with us climbing straight out of the Sunrise Visitor Center up onto an amazing ridge before settling in to a more level hike over to the lake.
From Frozen Lake, we took the Burroughs Mountain Trail and started the climb up to another ridge that we would walk on to the first and then the second Burroughs. The sights of Rainier kept getting better and better along the way. We arrived at the second Burroughs at 11 or so and hung out there for a while then hiked to first Burroughs then took sunrise rim trail back to sunrise and saw a bear cub in a meadow just past Shadow Lake and had to wonder that their mom had to be close by We made it back to Sunrise at about 1:30pm.
We then drove down Sunrise Viewpoint and enjoyed the views once more. We were then nn the road for a bit and then on down to our condo at the Crystal Mountain Ski Area. We then elected to take the gondola up to the restaurant on Crystal Mountain. It was pretty crowded up top and the views of Rainier were hampered by the haze and clouds coming in (we were lucky to do the hike in the pretty morning light this morning). There was a wedding going on up there which didn’t help much. We explored a bit and Scott and I played with the cameras. We then heard rumor of a possibility of lightning and noticed no one was getting off the gondola anymore meaning they weren’t allowing people up so we quickly got in line to come down so to beat the rush.
It was now a little before 5:00pm. We then explored the ski lodge a bit and decided to eat at Fireside which had hot dogs, broughtworst and hot dogs. I wish we would of gone back to the Alpine Inn for German food but the brat was good and so was the ice cream. It started to thunder a bit so we decided to head back to the room just as it started to rain. So that turned into a quick jog on tired legs with camera backpacks in the rain. We got wet but not drenched. It was now 6:30 and We then took turns showering. All three of us were in bed by 8! Tomorrow we head to Olympic National Park!!
Second Burroughs Hike via Frozen Lake Up and Sunrise Trail Down - 6 Mile Loop; 1345 ft elevation gain
Safe Travels,
B&E
Second Burroughs Hike via Frozen Lake Up and Sunrise Trail Down - 6 Mile Loop; 1345 ft elevation gain
Safe Travels,
B&E