Part 4, Frozen Lake to Mount Fremont Lookout, return to Sunrise




Frozen Lake was looking pretty low this time of year, with the water intake pipe which supplies the Sunrise facilies half exposed. In picture #3, you can see all three Burroughs summits. First is on the left edge, then Second is the bump in the middle, and finally Third lying under the rocky face of Rainier. It's only about 500 feet and 1.3 miles up to the lookout, and the hill that looks big from below really isn't so bad. Once you get past the hill and round the corner, the trail becomes seriously rocky for the remainder, and it's the kind of rock that sounds like glass when walked on. Once to the sturdy outpost, which by the way, is not on the top of Mount Fremont, the best view of Grand Park in the known universe jumps out at you. From here, again you see all the mountains to the north and west, including another snow-capped one to the right of Mount Baker. By the location, I'm guessing it's Whistler/Blackcomb, in British Columbia, Canada. To the northeast, the Huckleberry Creek basin and Forest Lake can be seen.



Just above the West Fork of the White River, the lateness of season is evidenced by a bright red patch of brush. The sun is already starting to go down in lush green Berkeley Park at only 3:30, thanks to Skyscraper Pass and Mountain to the West, sparkling Lodi creek will soon be in shadow.



In these shots you can see the rocky nature of the trail to the lookout. Also shown again is the trail heading over to Skyscraper Pass, with the Berkeley Park trail below. Picture #4 shows the wide level top of First Burroughs Mountain, with the five way trail junction at Frozen Lake left center. The shrubbery on the climb up to Mount Fremont is so tidy that it almost looks to have been manicured by a professional gardener. The onset of fall is again shown in the last picture, with some reds in the meadow near Frozen Lake. Unfortunately, at this point, my camera's batteries, overtaxed by numerous flash pictures and over 200 pictuers total, decided to go on hiatus. I hadn't brought the extra set, as I've never before used more than one set of batteries in a day. This was especially poor timing, as just above the lake a herd of 18 mountain goats was roaming! This marks the first time I have ever seen mountain goats at Mount Rainier, though I did see one once on the eastern side of Naches Peak, near Chinook Pass. You'll just have to take my word for it!

I really took my time getting back from Frozen Lake, about the same amount of time one would normally take going the uphill direction. I got back to the car just after 5:00, and as you might expect, the majority of folks had already left for the day. Over 11:00 hours on the trail and 12 miles, whew! My feet were happy to get out of their hiking boots and into tennis shoes. I ran into the usual Sunday evening traffic on the way home on Highway 410, but nothing outrageously terrible. One more hike and I'll be over 150 miles for the year!