July 22, 2025 - Driving from Alaska to Maryland
Sunrise, Mount Ranier NP
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We arrived at the Sunrise entrace to Mount Ranier NP around opening time. This entrance has timed entry so you need a reservation which I had. Then it was more driving up the mountain to the Visitor Center parking lot which wasn't empty but there was still plenty of parking left. The Sunrise area is in the northeast area of the mountain.
At an elevation of 6,400 feet, Sunrise is the highest point that can be reached by vehicle at Mount Rainier National Park.
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The Visitor Center building.
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| The infrastructure at Sunrise. |
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After yesterday's strenuous hiking, we decided to stick to the easy and intermediate trails today. No strenuous trails. We started with the short and easy walk to Emmons Vista and the Silver Forest Trail. Sourdough Ridge Trail.
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| Although there was plenty of sun and blue sky, clouds obscured most of Ranier while we were here. Also, Sunrise is much farther away from Ranier than Paradise was. |
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| The Sourdough Ridge Trail, not surprisingly, runs along a ridge so you get a good look down into a valley and the mountains on the other side. |
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| That's Ranier in the background. |
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| The Silver Forest Trail. |
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Mount Ranier is somewhere behind those clouds.
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| If only those clouds weren't there! |
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The trail was nice and flat!
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After finishing the Silver Forest Trail, the Visitor Center was open so we checked it out.
As you can see from this interesting map that Washington, Oregon and Northern California feature distinct volcano-type mountains of which Mount Ranier is one of the tallest.
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I really liked this diorama of Mount Ranier. You can see the Paradise area where we were yesterday at bottom Sunrise is at the upper right. This model confirms how much closer Paradise is to the summit than Sunrise.
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| From this angle Sunrise is just right of center at bottom. |
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| Next we went north up to the Sourdough Ridge Trail. |
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| Looking across the meadow at Ranier (I think). |
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Looking back at the Visitor Center. Lynnette's not happy about the uphill climb.
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| We would take the Sourdough Ridge Trail to the Frozen Lake. The trail was fairly flat on the ridge. |
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Looking north from the ridge.
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| The Sourdough Trail. |
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| Looking back at Antler Peak. |
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Somewhere out there is Mount Ranier.
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| Pretty country. |
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Looking south.
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Approaching a shale-landslide.
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| Looking up the shale-covered hill. |
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Getting into alpine territory.
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| That's Frozen Lake on the right. Except that it's not frozen! |
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| Approaching a trail intersection. Five trails radiate out from the intersection. |
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| Wonderland Trail heads west from the intersection (left to right in this picture). Burroughs Mountain Trail heads southwest into the mountains at left. |
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Mount Fremont Trail heads north up to -- you guessed it -- Mount Fremont.
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| A better look at Burroughs Mountain Trail. |
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We took the Sunrise Campground Trail which leads downhill east back to camp.
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| Looking west into alpine country. |
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| But we headed east and quickly were back into the pine forests and wildflower meadows. |
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| Burroughs Mountain Trail comes back in from the west. |
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Pretty Shadow Lake.
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| Looking north across a mountain meadow, you can see where we hiked the Sourdough Ridge Trail crossing the shale area above the treeline. |
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| A babbling brook. |
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Hiking through the forest and meadows back to the parking lot.
We only hiked for 3 to 4 hours or so and it was easy peasy compared to yesterday.
I didn't really know what to expect from Mount Ranier National Park but I came away having greatly enjoyed it. For me, it was the best National Park we would see the entire Alaskan Road trip.
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| Leaving Sunrise and Ranier National Park, we headed east on Highway 410 and were soon out of the mountains. |
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It was strange driving through high desert after having been in mountains for the last week or so.
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We stayed at this hotel in Yakima, Washington for the night. It was very nice.
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