My annual pilgrimage to Sunrise, Mt. Rainier, at sunrise to see the sky and mountain light up. I hate getting up at 4 a.m., but this is so very worth it!  J and E and I were on the road before 5 a.m., and after hiking a little bit out of the parking lot we settled in to watch the dawn. My advice… JUST GO DO IT!!!  The road to Sunrise usually closes mid-October for winter, so this is my way of saying goodbye to this section of Rainier every year.

After watching a gorgeous sunrise, we hiked out to the Fremont Lookout Tower and had a relaxing picnic lunch with wonderful 360-degree views. Beautiful day with good friends, in a most spectacular area of Mt. Rainier.  GO!

Another wonderful hike along the Skyline Trail to Panorama Point at Rainier. Coming out of the parking lot I said I’d like to see marmots, and we definitely got marmots! They were posing and flirting with us… great way to try out my new camera. Even though the wildflowers were spent at the end of September (and it’s the BEST wildflower hike I’ve ever been on), it was still an excellent hike, amazing views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.  And marmots… a lot of marmots!

Best day ever at Skyscraper Pass, out of Sunrise. J. and I headed out early and spent the day with 32 mountain goats who were all about showing off and posing for us for a couple of hours. We were fortunate that they were much more interested in sunning on rocks and eating than 2 hikers with cameras. They were amazing, and looked very healthy with a lot of new kids. Rangers told us the goat herds are getting larger and stronger every year, and it shows. It was an amazing day, one I won’t soon forget.

I have to get out to Eunice Lake and the Tolmie lookout once a year, it’s tradition.  The view from the Tolmie lookout is one of the best in the park, with sweeping views of the Mountain, Mowich Lake, Eunice Lake, and the Puget Sound area.. This year, I had the bonus of spending 30 minutes watching a mamma bear with her two cubs foraging on the far side of the lake along the cliffs. This is the day I decided I needed to get a camera with a better zoom!!!

Sharon, Steve, and I hiked to an (undisclosed) lake on a sketchy and steep (undisclosed) trail. I won’t say where it is since it’s “unofficial” and we want it to stay that way, but it sure was gorgeous!!! 

S & S brought fishing gear, I brought a chair and book, and we spent the day in complete solitude away from the masses of other places at Rainier. Many of the wildflowers were past bloom, but the area is so beautiful it didn’t really matter. The wild ripe huckleberries along the way more than made up for lack of flowers!  Again, I have to pinch myself so I don’t forget how incredibly fortunate I am to live near Tahoma and have it as my playground.

Sharon and I headed out to Sheep Lake and beyond to Sourdough Gap. Sheep Lake is an easy 2 to 2.5-mile hike to a wonderful little alpine lake. Most of the wildflowers were bloomed out, but that also meant that bugs were mostly gone too. We passed Sheep Lake and headed up to Sourdough Gap, then beyond that to another ridge with great views down to Upper Crystal Lake. The views up here are wonderful, with a perfect mix of meadows and sub-alpine trees. Perfect day, perfect weather.

Our day at Paradise, Mt. Rainier, started out in fog, but that didn’t really matter because I’ve never seen the wildflowers so intense as they have been this year. It was sensory overload from the minute we stepped out of the parking lot. We hiked up to Panorama Point, and then further up on the High Skyline Trail, looped down to Mazama Ridge, and back to Paradise. We didn’t break out of the clouds until the very top of High Skyline, but from there the view was stunning, again seeing Mt. Adams and even a glimpse of Mt. Hood in Oregon.  And the flowers!!!  Did I mention the wildflowers!?!?! 

We intended on hiking to Skyscraper Pass out of Sunrise, Mt. Rainer. When we came to the Northern Loop trail leading to Berkeley Park and Grand Park, we changed our hiking plans 🙂  I’ve always seen Berkeley Park from the top, this was the first time I’ve ever been down into Grand Park itself.  Gorgeous!!!  The top section of wildflowers in Berkeley Park was mostly spent, but as we descended into the lower parts of it, there was a riot of color from Rainier wildflowers, as well as a beautiful stream running through it, and the largest freshwater spring I’ve ever seen. Even the bugs behaved themselves, which was a bonus for this hike.

We ooooh’d and aaaah’d our way through the wildflower meadows to the Berkeley Park campsite for a little rest, then continued down into a forested area and then began climbing up a ridge leading up to Grand Park. I’d never been to Grand before, and had only seen it from a distance. Even though the wildflowers up there were already bloomed out, it’s AMAZING to see a massive, completely flat meadow at the base of Rainier, where you’re normally hard-pressed to find 2 square feet of flat space. For any geologists reading this, please explain to me how such a perfectly flat, open meadow is formed from an active volcano?

After a nice lunch and laying down in the middle of the meadow enjoying a huge sky and Grand views, we headed back the 6 miles to the car. I’ll admit, the last two miles from Frozen Lake to the parking lot we were pretty rummy and tired, but it was one of the best hiking “detours” I’ve ever taken.  Even better to have spent a great day with great friends 🙂