Burroughs Mountain Trail

One of the best days of my life! The view of Rainier is ridiculous. Pretty much the entire sky is filled with it. Go early in the morning since by the time you finish everyone and their mom will be there.

You've got to get to the 3rd Burroughs, it's amazing. While there we could hear the glaciers crack and even got to see an avalanche. With binoculars we were able to see climbers coming down from the top of Mt Rainier. I don’t believe there is a better view of Mt. Rainier then from the 3rd Burroughs! If we had just done the 1st and 2nd Burroughs we might have done the roundtrip in 3 hours, maybe. Adding the trip to the 3rd Burroughs added several hours (and it’s quite a hike). Our total hike time was 7 hours and we’ve got the photos and blisters to prove it. Both snow fields around the 1st Burroughs had melted. Note: Those that fear heights should not take the trail from Sunrise Camp to the 1st Burroughs, instead take the trail by Frozen Lake in both directions.

I would imagine this was a beautiful hike. Unfortunately for us, we had a rainy, cold, windy day...in early August! Even got sleeted on at the top of First Burroughs. Actually, when the sun popped out for a few moments, the views of the area around the Burroughs, especially back down to Frozen Lake and, in the other direction, the White River, were spectacular. But as far as Mount Rainier - it might as well not have been there, since we couldn't see any of it. Two days later, we did the Tolmie Peak hike in gorgeous weather. Now having seen the Burroughs from that vantage point, I'd recommend this hike even without having had the best day to be on it.

This was an incredible day for hiking in this area, for Mt. Rainier is right there, and watching the clouds forming off the glaciers was unearthly! We managed to summit 1st, 2nd and 3rd Burroughs before the clouds drove us back to the car.