From there, I hiked up to Glacier Basin. The basic hike is 6.2 miles round trip, but I continued on the climbers trail for about another 1-1/2 miles to the moraine of the Inter Glacier. This is the route for climbers on their way to the Emmons Glacier route to the summit of Mt Ranier. The weather was clear and warm. The trail was in poor condition for about a mile where it had been washed out during the 2006 floods. In those areas, it was a poorly marked, undeveloped trail that wanders thru the boulders along the banks of the White River.
After I returned to White River campground, I got back on the motorcycle and rode the remaining 10 miles to Sunrise. This is the first time I have been there. I wandered thru the visitors center and walked to the Emmons Glacier Vista and took some pictures of where I was in Glacier Basin.
I was going to continue back home thru Enumclaw on the reverse of the route that I used this morning. But, I found out that Stevens Canyon Road was open. So from Sunrise, I went east on 410, over Cayuse Pass and reentered the Park at Stevens Canyon. This heads up the east side of the mountains to Paradise. The new visitors center was just opened this year, so I wandered thru it and then started for home arriving home at 2000. Total motorcycle miles for the day:271.9 miles.
A strange thing happened on the way up Stevens Canyon road. Something got under the bottom of my full faced helmet and hit me hard on the neck. I stopped and unzipped my jacket but could not find anything under the jacket or in my shirt. About 15 miles later I stopped to take a photo. I reached down to unzip my pocket to get the camera and was hit with stinging pain on the inside of my upper arm. I got off the bike and ripped off the jacket. Sure enough, a bee fell out of the jacket. He must have gotten inside when he hit my neck and found his way over toward my arm. When I moved, he got me twice on the inside of the arm near the armpit. Looked kind of like a bumble bee. Can they bite as well as sting? These hits look more like bites. Oh, he stumbled around in the gravel for a while and then took off! No bees were killed during this incident!
Edit: I found my answer on the bumblebee. From Wikipedia:"a bumblebee's stinger lacks barbs -- so they can sting more than once." This must be what happened to me.
In Glacier Basin looking toward Inter Glacier.
Pond and meadow in Glacier Basin.
Looking up Glacier Basin from Glacier Basin Camp.
White River.
Visitor center at Sunrise.
Mt Rainier from Sunrise. Emmons Glacier flows down the face.
Steamboat Prow, Inter Glacier, Glacier Basin viewed from Sunrise. Glacier Basin is where I hiked into from White River campground.
Mt Rainier above Reflection Lakes.
Mt Rainier from Paradise.
New Visitors Center at Paradise. 
3 comments:
Looks like a great trip, thanks for sharing. The borroughs mountain trail is a good one to check out from Sunrise... there's a way trail when the main trail starts heading down that'll take you to third borroughs... the view is pretty sweet from there.
The trail from Sunrise to the First and Second Burroughs continues on and ties into the Glacier Basin trail I was on. This could make a great loop-Glacier Basin, Burroughs to Sunrise and return to White River via Wonderland Trail(or some combination).
This was my first experiance with hiking in that area, so my choice may not have been well thought out.
Nice pics Dan. Those darn bees can find an open spot around windshields and helmets and jackets or just about anything you try to put in their way. Thanks for sharing the barbless info. I know that paper wasps can bite. They get lots of practice chewing wood to build their nests.
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