Burroughs Mountain Trail — Attraction in Enumclaw

Hands down this hike is in my top five favorites at Mt. Rainier. I believe this day I clocked around 13ish miles. Started by heading up Sourdough Ridge to Frozen Lake to First Burroughs. Hike up to First Burroughs is the first really decent incline. Once at the top it gets flat for a little bit. Second Burroughs again... you go up and flat for a bit. After Second, which would be a fantastic turn around spot as the view is amazing. You go down and into a small valley before the last incline. Which was the hardest. Its a bit long and steep especially towards the end. But the result is so worth it. The unobstructed views are amazing. The Winthrop Glacier was amazing. The crevasses and vastness of your surroundings was unbelievable. Had lunch here, making new friends with other hikers. After lunch we decided to take the Sunrise Rim back rather than the way we came. Allowed for views of the Emmons Glacier and Emmons Moraine Lake. If you go when snow is still on the mountain, late spring/early summer be prepared with poles and spikes. Some of the decent gets steep, its narrow and a lip on a very high ledge. Snow melt makes for slippery conditions. Once you make it to the Sunrise campground there is a variety of ways to go back. I suggest straight, passing the vault toilets on your left headed towards the lake. Its the most scenic out of the options. Going to the left, passing the toilets on the right leads you to a service road. Its an easier hike. Overall beautiful whichever...

Difficulty level: Moderate Distance: ~9.5 miles Elevation gain: ~2600 feet Time to complete: ~5.5 Hours

This is one of the scenic hikes of Mount Rainier national park after Skyline loop. We saw a mountain goat at the beginning and that was the highlight of our trip. We did this hike in Early September. Weather was good and temperature was approximately 69 Fahrenheit. Best time to visit this trail is from July through September.

This hike is accessible from Sunrise Visitor Center. This trail is mostly sandy but there are certain rocky sections as well. You will pass 2 lakes along the way, frozen lake and shadow lake. There are also camping sites on south side of the loop at Sunrise Camp.

It is heavily exposed the entire way, so I recommend bringing sunscreen and lots of water.

Passes: America is beautiful for entry into Mount Rainier park.

Additional: Dogs not allowed Internet will not work so I recommend downloading maps before going there. There was a very long queue at the entrance at 10AM. I would recommend going early. We waited 2 hours for the entrance as they were only allowing limited number of vehicles inside. So we were supposed to wait until a vehicle is coming out...

We hiked to all three Burroughs in early August and found that this trail has some pros and cons to it.

Pros: Amazing views of the mountain the entire time. Very well maintained trail that makes the hike pretty easy.

Cons: Very exposed to the elements. There's hardly any shade anywhere. Bring water. Biting flies. Tons of them, especially at Burrough 2 and 3.

We saw a little bit of wildlife - a chipmunk, a marmot, and a small bear.

Our total hike was 10 miles with 2,650 ft of...