Mount Rainier Campout – July/August 2026
By Dave Parent
Seven of us spent July 30 to August 2 camping and hiking at Sunrise, Mount Rainier National Park. We car-camped at White River Campground and took excursions up the hill to Sunrise.
Three of us arrived on Thursday to secure first-come first-serve campsites. I spent the afternoon walking on the Glacier Basin Trail which begins in the campground.
On Friday, I planned to do a scouting trip to climb Mount Fremont but due to logistics, I went up solo but with many other hikers. I stopped at a pullout on the road up and observed a black bear feeding in a meadow. I heard Ptarmigan at the top but could not locate them. Spectacular views of The Mountain from the Mount Fremont lookout. I saw a Swainson’s Hawk and Prairie Falcon on this hike.
On Saturday, three of us met at the Sunrise parking lot at 7 a.m. This turned out to be one of my top ten days in the mountains. Our goal was to ascend all three summits of Burroughs Mountain. We made it to First Burroughs in good time. It is a pumice covered plateau with sparse subalpine plants. On the way, we observed a nursery herd of almost 40 Mountain Goat nannies and kids. A large male was seen further up the mountain. We continued on to Second Burroughs which is where most hikers stop. At this location we began to observe mountain birds, notably American Pipits and Horned Larks both shepherding fledglings. We left the crowds behind and descended 400ft before ascending 1200ft to the summit of Third Burroughs. More mountain birds were seen along the way and we picked up a flyby flock of Grey-crowned Rosy Finches at the summit. In my opinion, Third Burroughs has the best close-up view of The Mountain which was partially obscured by clouds. We could hear rockfall and avalanches thundering off the Willis Wall. We spent a long time at the summit before descending. On the way back down, Susan lagged behind. When she caught up, she described a chicken-like bird with chicks so we made our way back up and found a male White-tailed Ptarmigan who was showing two chicks around. This is unusual since female Ptarmigan usually feed and watch over chicks.
After dark, some of us returned to Sunrise to look for Boreal Owls and Cascade Red Fox but were disappointed.
On Sunday, two of us drove up to the Grand Park trailhead. Grand Park is an unusual phenomenon in the vertical world of Mount Rainier. It is a one-by two-mile flat plateau that is fun to explore. A pair of Prairie Falcons hunted over the park. On our way back down we observed an American Three-toed Woodpecker which is an uncommon and hard to find bird.
This was a wonderful trip with good friends, amazing scenery, birds and mammals. The bird count was 31 and the mammal count was 13. Bird and mammal lists are available on request, contact Dave.
