Bourroughs Mountains

The Burrough Mountains Hike

Up and out of the house by 6 am

As we topped over the Paradise ridge we came to Reflection Lakes just as the sun rise was taking place. We stopped and took a few of the iconic Mount Rainier reflection shots off of the lake.  The sun was fireball red as it peeled over the eastern ridge.  The drive r

From our cabin to Sunrise is around 65 miles of twisty mountain driving. At some points there are long drop offs with just the mere suggestion of a guard rail.  It is actually the white painted line one the side of the road.  I’m always thinking Kathi should be driving with one tire right on the yellow middle line.  And why does it seem like the passenger side of the car is always the side next to the cliff?  I’m sure it is equal, but when in the moment, it me hanging on the edge.

The ranger station is not open when we get to the parking lot, but volunteer ranger Dave is on duty.  He informs us that we should hike the hike in reverse of what is generally written in the hiking books.  He then got on a roll about volunteering in the park and how many hours I needed to work in order to score a volunteer ranger uniform, then onto Washington State finally paying teachers a salary they deserve, then onto his managerial job he retired from...Don’t get me wrong, I like to talk, but Dave was not picking up on the fact that we wanted to get hiking...we started walking way... he was still talking... we said we wanted to hit the trail... he just talked louder so we could hear what else he had to say!  Finally a person came along and asked him a question.  We bolted for the trail head.  Dave set us back about 20 minutes. 

Today we are hiking the three bourrough mountains.  We go clockwise around much means we will have Mount Rainier right in front of us as we gain elevation.  Going clockwise was a useful tip from Volunteer Ranger Dave. There is a light haze of smoke and it really smells like a huge campfire.  There is a wild forest fire that is burning to the north of the park. Firefighters were fighting it, but they have decided to just let it burn now.  Please take note of the photos as during the day the smoke became a huge visual hinderance. 

We made good time up to the first two Bourrough mountains, shot a few pictures before heading for the 400foot decent then up 800 foot ascent to gain the top of the last mountain.  From the top we had a front seat to Mount Rainier and sat with our map figuring out what glacier was which, as well as, the location of Camp Schurman. We had a super lunch of left over pizza from supper a few nights ago. 

We began to notice the wind picking up and with it the smoke haze greatly increased.  Time to hit the trail back.  We reverse the 800 foot decent and 400 foot ascent to the second Bourrough.  Here we just wanted to take a photo at this cool rock shelter on top of the second mountain.  We has to wait for three ladies to get themselves out of the spot first. They were rather discombobulated so we stood and waited for them.  

We made our way to first Bourrough and found Volunteer Ranger Dave working the crowd.  He was pointing out the mountain sheep way down on the trail below. We took a few photos and left. Hiking down I heard a hiker getting close to me, so I pulled over to let them pass. It was Volunteer Ranger Dave.  He wanted to talk some more.  He walked with us down to frozen lake, here he encountered some people who needed some trail map assistance.  Kathi and I slipped away fast.  

The last photo of Mt Rainier shows a very obscure mountain.  I hope the smoke blows away as we will be backpacking this area next week...

One story I forgot to tell was on the day we hiked to Indian Henry’s hunting grounds.  I was reminded of it today when Kathi and I saw a chipmunk/ground squirrel standing on its hind legs with his/her hands together up under his/her chin. It’s hands reminded me of when we were hiking the last mile of the trail a snake slithered off of the trail to my right.  Now it was a small snake, perhaps 20 inches long. But they do live here, but you don’t see them often, so seeing one slither to the side does cause some pause.  When I pointed it out to her she picked her hands up to her chin, hiking poles and all, an sucked in her breath.  I think I belly laughed for a half of a mile. So today when I saw the chipmunk/ground squirrel standing with its ha do up by his/her chin all I could think of was Kathi’s snake gasp.  Well, it you are not laughing, I most likely should tell you this story in person.