Trip Report
Day Hike - Brown Peak
A trail less traveled to several beautiful alpine lakes lined with fragrant lupine had this group smiling all day. We successfully climbed up to Brown Peak giving our hikers another peak for the Seattle Branch 15 Hiking Peaks in Mount Rainier National Park!!
Diann Sheldon
- Fri, Aug 8, 2025
- Day Hike - Brown Peak
- Palisades Lakes
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The main trail is in great shape! Felled trees have been cleared and the boot path was very clean. Less dusty as well due to the recent rainfall. The boot trail up to Brown Peak is pretty straight forward and definitely steep with loose rock in places. Mindfulness is key going up and especially down hill.
We had a great group of early bird hikers on our journey to Upper Palisades Lake and a summit of Brown Peak. We met at 6:45 am at the White River Entrance and made out way up the Sunrise road in beautiful early morning light. We easily found parking at the Sunrise Point parking lot and noticed a chill in the air. Since we were hiking downhill in the shade we opted for more layers than a typical summer morning hike. Absolute blue bird sky conditions today and a dampness from the rain two days ago.
This is a great trail passing several alpine lakes along a roller coaster trail. The downhills are noticeable for the return trip and the fact that most will be in the shade. We saw three backpackers coming out from their night at Upper Palisades Lake on the way in and less than a handful on our way out.
Opting to climb up to Brown Peak before lunch was a great idea and made traveling lighter on our bodies. The views of Mt. Adams, Goat Rocks, Tamanos Mountain and surrounding chimneys and our largest volcano in the lower 48 states, Mt. Tahoma/Rainier, were extra impressive today. A lovely snow line of new snow from the storm two days was very noticeable.
After lunch we made our way down to Upper Palisades Lake and enjoyed the stunning colors of lake water and wildflowers. The lupine blooms this year are so abundant. We enjoyed the delightful smells of meadows full of lupines today.
Back to our vehicles with a full parking lot, several tour buses, a wedding party taking photos made us all grateful for this little hiked trail and our time together.
