Rainier Vacation Part 5 - Burroughs mountain

Day 5

Part 5 of our Rainier camping & hiking trip. 

If you'd like to catch up, you can read - 

Part 1 HERE about our camp at White River

Part 2 HERE about our Owyhigh lakes hike, 

Part 3 HERE about our hike to Emmons Glacier and Glacier Basin

Part 4 HERE our Shadow lake loop hike.

We woke to a chilly morning, the snow had fallen lower and was visible on the hill above our campground.

We decided to go on up to Sunrise and get a hike in anyway. We chose Burroughs mountain.

When we arrived at the Sunrise visitor center parking lot we noticed the flag flying straight out with a stiff wind.

Time to bundle up in our layers, it was cold!

Looking down at the visitor center with a winter like view.

The trail was icy in places and I'd wished I had brought my Yaktrax with me.

As we made our way up the trail we were right in the path of the wind as the clouds moved in and out it caused near white outs (very low visibility).

Even though there are 3 Burroughs to the Burroughs mountain trail, we decided the 1st Burrough would be good enough for today. We took our pictures on top, found a shelter spot for a quick lunch and then continued on the loop trail back past Shadow lake and on to Sunrise.

Our lunch spot.

As we headed down we were instantly out of the wind, which was a relief. We could now take our time and enjoy the peek a boo views. The trail was still a bit icy until it turned to slush in places.

The trail around Burroughs mountain allowed us to look up the Emmons Glacier, We hiked to the glacier overlook and above the "Kettle" lake below our 3rd day - Part 3's post.

If you are able to zoom in the photo below, you will see a parking lot about half way down the White river on the left. That is the climbers parking lot in the White River campground where we were staying.

A quick view of Little Tahoma. Tahoma is the Native American name for Mt. Rainier. 

Here is a brief quote I found from THIS article - "Personification, Before the mountains became Gods in these stories, they were people. In the origin stories of Mount Rainier, the mountain is described as a large woman who lived west of Puget Sound, in what is now the Olympic Mountains. Her husband had two wives, both of whom fought with the other, Feeling cramped and embattled, the woman left the crowded Olympics with her son and went to the open plains out east. With room to breath, the woman and her son grew quite large, becoming Mount Rainier and Little Tahoma respectively."

A fox ran beside us and just as I noticed it, it noticed us and made a hasty exit. I happened to have my camera out because a couple of deer were near us so I quickly turned and was able to get a view of him running away! We reported our finding at the Visitor center upon returning and they verfied that we had seen a Cascade Mountain fox.

These are the deer we'd been watching,

and just before we got to the parking lot the clouds parted and there was Mt. Rainier. I wanted to stay there forever and enjoy the view and the warmth from the sun, but our camp was calling it was time to head back.

Total miles hiked - 5 miles

Total ascent - 800 feet

Maximum altitude - 7,200 feet

Rainier Vacation - Part 4 Shadow lake loop

Day 4
Part 4 of our Rainier camping & hiking vacation.

If you'd like to catch up with our Rainier vacation you can read -

 Part 1 our camp at White River campground HERE 

 Part 2 Owyhigh lakes hike HERE

 Part 3 Shadow lake loop hike HERE. 

Again our spirits were buoyed by a glorious blue sky when we woke and a great view of Rainier from our. White River campground campsite.

We decided to drive up to the Sunrise visitor center parking lot and hike around Shadow lake.Shadow lake. We stopped at a tourist pullout to read about the Columnar Andesite along the road.

We also stopped at Sunrise point to check out the views. It overlooks the Palisades lake trail. This is one we would like to do on another trip. When we looked up at the hill in front of us, we saw lots of white dots so we got out our binoculars and sure enough they were mountain goats.

Sunrise lake

If you zoom in to enlarge the photo below you will see many mountain goats on this hillside.

When we got to the parking lot, we noticed there was a dusting of snow. It was a bit chilly but not too bad. We put extra layers to wear in our day packs and headed to the visitor center.

Flowers in the snow.

Examining the wonderful 3-D map of Rainier and it's trails.

Our hike to Emmons Moraine in my Part 3 post overlooked the lake in this visitor center display. I learned more about "Kettles" here.

Off to the Shadow lake loop.

A couple of deer along the service road.

A light rain began to fall and we heard a thunder roll in the distance.

The light rain turned to sleet and then snow.

Check out the before and after pictures of the parking lot from our day. When we returned to the parking lot it was a different world. We began calling this week the "time that July turned into October". After our hot summer, we really didn't expect this. Soo glad we brought clothing for whatever weather we might have.

Total miles hiked - 2.5 miles

Maximum altitude - 6400 feet