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Trip Report    

Day Hike - Burroughs Mountain

Seattle branch hike to Third Burroughs on July 30 with a group of 6 hikers.

David Bradley David Bradley
July 31, 2016
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Wonderland and Burroughs Loop Trails are in good condition and free of snow from Sunrise trailhead to First Burroughs. There is one easily traversed minor snow patch along the route to Second Burroughs. There are several large snow patches along the route to Third Burroughs, and most of the last couple hundred vertical feet to the summit is under snow. The large snow areas were passable without traction devices but with difficulty - they are much easier with traction devices. The summit ridge of Third Burroughs it free of snow.

    The trail on the NW face of burroughs still has patches of snow where the trail crosses highly angled slopes.  Park Rangers were advising people to avoid this trail in the morning because it was iced over and hazardous.  By afternoon Rangers had chopped out a path through the snow and sanded it, and the sun had made the surface soft.  We took this route back and had no problems, though the party proceeded cautiously.

We did a sort-of-loop route from the Sunrise TH to Third Burroughs, heading out on the southern route through Sunrise Camp and returning along the northern route past Frozen Lake. Though rangers reported recent bear activity around Sunrise Camp we saw none.

The sky was cloudless all day, and visibility was excellent in all directions. Temperatures were in the high 50s with a strong breeze most of the day.  Good hiking weather. It was very windy on the summit of Third Burroughs, and most donned jackets. Except for some extra effort required to ascend and descend some snow fields it was as perfect a day as one could ask for.  

Because recent trip reports indicated there was still snow on exposed parts of the trail, a few days before the trip the Trip Leader added a requirement to bring traction devices and poles. Most of the group elected to wear traction devices when crossing the snow, and did so without incident.