Backpacking at Sunrise, MRNP 9/5-7/2020

 This was one of the best backpacking trips I've been on.  I had the good fortune to be invited by my older son, Bradley, and his girlfriend, Jessica, to join them for a weekend of backpacking at Sunrise, Mount Rainier National Park.  They had secured backcountry permits for two nights and the weather was even supposed to be great!  

Day one, we met at Sunrise and hiked into our first campsite at the Sunrise backcountry campground.  We had our pick of sites, and found a nice one on a little knoll surrounded by alpine trees and with some cool square stones set up like little tables.  

We were going to hike down to Glacier Basin that day, but instead ended up hiking up First and Second Burroughs.  The views of Mt Rainier were phenomenal. I was a little surprised how dry (or gone) the vegetation was.  I am used to going during wildflower season and it was definitely well past that.  There were still some little lupines here and there on the more shaded hillsides, and in areas that had grasses, there were pasque flowers (mouse on a stick! haha).  We saw pikas, marmots, ground squirrels, and chipmunks. 

We ate our lunch on Second Burroughs with the mountain right in our face and the White River basin far far far below us.  

On our way back we saw some mountain goat nannies and kids in a distant meadow.  Then a bit less than a mile from our campsite we saw a black bear grazing its way across a little ridge and then disappear into the trees.

We later walked to Shadow Lake and had fun looking at all the salamanders and frogs and just chilling by the water.  At our cozy campsite we played cards and had dinner.  My tent and sleeping bag were warm and comfy, and no strange sounds were heard during the night.  The only downer was that my air mattress (which had only been used twice previously) developed a leak.

The next morning we were going to hike to our next campsite at Forest Lake, and then do a hike to the Freemont Lookout.  On the way we spotted another black bear, this one just a little closer, but still at a safe distance and we could really enjoy watching him until he lost interest in whatever he was munching in the meadow and disappeared into the trees.

So off we went.  What we didn't realize was that our campsite, while close in distance, was up a little ridge and then down, down, down the other side.  Then down through a grassy valley, then down a rocky slope, then down through a rocky basin that looked like a lunar landscape.  Then down another slope where we left the alpine terrain and entered larger trees, then down into a treed valley.  I was dreading the climb out the next day with all my gear!  I had looked at distance and not elevation between campsites and had not packed as light as I normally would.  Lesson learned!

Forest Lake, while seemingly at earth's lowest elevation in comparison to Sunrise, was a hidden gem!  It is a campground with only one site, and a lake.  We had both all to ourselves!  It was like paradise.  Quiet and beautiful.  The lake was not very cold and full of salamanders and cool pond bugs.  Once camp was set up, we thought we would relax there a bit and do the Freemont Lookout hike closer to sunset so we could eat at the lookout and watch the sun set on the mountain.  What we ended up doing instead, turned out to be fabulous.  We lounged around our private campground, napping, swimming, and taking a several mile RT hike further down the trail that we had followed to get there.  I sat in the sunshine on a log, writing in my journal and counting salamanders so long that I felt like I became part of the edge of the lake.  It was glorious.  

That night, just as I had drifted off to sleep, I heard a loud noise.  If I were to describe it - it sounded like a very large hiker was trying to navigate the trail without a headlamp and ended up getting tangled in some branches.  This imaginary hiker took to thrashing the trees and branches with his hiking poles vigorously and then kicked a boulder into the stream for good measure.  It was not a relaxing sound.  I spent the rest of the night with my headlamp in my hand, ready to turn on at a moment's notice. I am not sure why I find it comforting that I have the ability to see what is about to eat me before it does, but nevertheless, sleeping with my headlamp at the ready made me feel better.  My air mattress losing all its air was the biggest issue I ended up having to deal with all night though.

The next morning we got up at the earliest hint of light and broke camp so we could trek up all that elevation while it was still cool.  I am a LOT slower than Bradley and Jessica, but we all did great and eventually did manage to get up to Sunrise again.  

To top off our adventure, we then drove to another area of the park, hiked Grove of the Patriarchs, and then went to the Blue Spruce Saloon in Packwood for burgers.  I don't know if it was just because we had been living on dehydrated food and chicken wraps for three days or what, but the burger and fries I had were exceptionally delicious.

Apple Watch stats:  The Burroughs hike - 6.48 miles, 1439 ft of elevation gain.  Forest Lake Trail day - 7 miles, 1635 ft of elevation gain (this was on our way back to camp after having gone further down that ever descending trail past our camp).  Forest Lake to Sunrise plus Grove of the Patriarchs - 4.25 miles, 1220 ft of elevation gain.