Two Nights/Three Days at Mt Ranier

This week I met up with a friend from Oregon to camp and hike for a few days at Mt Ranier. On Monday I drove early to set up camp at White River Campground. I found a site close to the river in the far end of the campground. It was a nice site with enough open area to let lots of light in.

In the afternoon, we drove to Sunrise and hiked the trail towards First Burroughs mountain. The weather was starting to cloud over with a few drops of rain. As we neared the summit, there was patches of snow on the hillside trail. There we retreated back down. That night it rain lightly, but was not enough to make the camping bad.


On Tuesday, we hiked up the Glacier Basin trail. It starts at the White River campground and proceeds 3.1 miles up the White River. The first 1.25 miles is new. Last time I hiked this trail two years ago, the lower part of the trail had been destroyed by floods and the trail was rough and ran through the rocks of the river banks. The day was warm and sunny. In the basin, the flowers were blooming.

After the hike, I drove up the Stevens Canyon to Paradise and after a short stop at the visitors center, continued on to Cougar Rock campground for the night.

Wednesday, we went back up to Paradise to hike some more trails. We planned to hike to Panorama Pt, but the trails were covered with snow, so we stayed on the lower trails. Headed home in the early afternoon before the traffic got bad in Tacoma.

 Mt Ranier from the river bed next to my campsite.

 From the slopes of First Burroughs mountain looking toward Emmons Glacier and the headwaters of the White River.

 Mt Ranier and Glacier Basin from First Burroughs mountain. The clouds were starting to blow in.

 On the way to Glacier Basin.

 Glacier Basin and Inter Glacier. This is the approach for climbers heading to Camp Schurman.

 Meadow and lake in Glacier Basin. The mountain in the middle of the picture is First Burroughs and if you can see the patch of snow high on it, that was where we turned around the previous day.

 Foot log over the White river. This is part of the Wonderland Trail from White River Campground to Summerland.

 Mt Ranier from Paradise.

 Mazama Ridge.

Myrtle Falls.