At the time, this trail had already seen it's first snow of the year, and it's undoubtedly buried under more now.
All pics...from this trip to Rainier...
http://weathercrazy.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Rainier-1014
I've done this hike before, but not for years, so it was time for a revisit.
I started at Sunrise, went to Shadow Lake, then up to First Burroughs, Second Burroughs and then down to Berkley Park.
Outside of some shale portions on the Burroughs, this trail is mainly soft dirt with a wide path.
On the way to Sunrise, at Sunrise Point, there were more goats in one area than I had ever seen...
I did not see anyone on the trail until I got past the summit of First Burroughs. The meadows had a nice frost on them, and the water had a thin layer of ice.
Shadow Lake...living up to it's name
The vegetation here is much more sparse than the Paradise side, but it was beautiful in it's fall dress...
This view overlooks the trail and on the far hillside, the return trail I would be on back to Sunrise.
Just patches of snow left over...
Then the trail breaks out to this view overlooking Rainier, the Emmons Glacier, these wonderful glacial tarns and the White River. Magical!
The trail quickly ascends to First Burroughs now and it's rocky and barren landscape.
Rainier looms in the not so distant distance haha
Originally I was going to descend at First Burroughs and go up Skyscraper, but I had done that before, so I opted to add the short (but steep) trip up to Second Burroughs and go to Berkley Park instead.
Heading up Second Burroughs, the mountain looms very close. This is one of the best hikes for showing the shear size of this mountain.
And the Emmons again and a hiker...
It was an exceptionally clear day...clear enough to see Seattle in the distance...WOW!
Being a weather geek, the clouds along with the iridescence had me moving slowly!
Mount Fremont in the distance along with Mount Baker.
The north side of Burroughs which usually has a large snow drift well into summer...has already started.
I love the first snow, even if it's melted a little.
The moonscape of rock, can you see the hiker?
I love this mountain!
It's a descent into Berkley Park, and I did not go down to the camp (5,300') instead I stopped just below the first creek crossing and had lunch.
The colors were great...both below...
And above...
After returning to the junction with Frozen Lake, the trail was somewhat crowded, but not bad.
A less shadowy pic of Shadow Lake
All in all, this trail was 8.3 miles with 2,100' of elevation gain. I took my sweet time and took tons of pictures...
