We took 2 days to do parts of the Northern Loop and some cross country travel into the Elysian Fields and Moraine Park. Day 1: Sunrise to Windy Gap We started at Sunrise around 8:15 am after picking up a permit from White River. The sky was unsettled all day long, but luckily we didn't encounter any rain showers while we were hiking. After hiking on the nice trail out of Sunrise we passed Frozen Lake, which is not quite so frozen after our warm summer. Continuing on the descent to Berkeley Park we passed through beautiful blooming flower fields and a bubbling stream. After a quick break by the stream we continued on the climb up to Grand Park. As usual Grand Park is a fun hike - nice and flat and pretty nice views! The best view comes right after Grand Park though, with an opening on the trail revealing an amazing vantage point of the Mountain. From Grand Park it is a long descent on nicely graded switchbacks, passing Fire Creek Camp. Descending to the river we found that the bridge over the crossing was out, but there is a well flagged detour with a sturdy, wide log. As always, be careful about slipping when crossing on logs! After crossing the river we finally began the long slog up the hill to Lake James, and then onto Windy Gap. Lake James has a nice water source running, but after that there is little water. A few tarns are still intact, although lower than usual, at the Gap, but running water is hard to find. We camped in the cross country zone off trail at Windy Gap. This whole area is beautiful with meadows and tarns. If you choose to camp here please keep the area pristine for those who follow! A few rain showers and a brief thunderstorm rolled by during the night, but it remained warm and we were comfortable and dry in our tent by then. Day 2: Elysian Fields, Moraine Park, Mystic Lake to Sunrise The majority of this day was off trail. Completing this off trail traverse requires a high level of comfort with scrambling on loose boulders and heather. It took us about 9 hours to traverse across the Elysian Fields and Moraine Park. This is certainly one of the most beautiful and remote areas in the park. Many of the tarns along the way had tadpoles and frogs! After descending from Moraine Park to meet the Wonderland Trail just before Mystic Pass, we followed the trail along to Mystic Lake. A nice dinner at the lake shore was well worth the time. The lake is beautiful in the evening light, and well placed logs provide nice seating for long break. The trail then descends through the camp and continues to the final river crossing of the day. The bridge is intact and the descent to the river and ascent from it have been repaired this season, making the crossing uneventful. After this it is a long climb up past Granite Creek to Skyscraper Pass. We paused at Skyscraper to watch some of the meteor shower, and saw a couple of huge ones! Rainier is a great place to watch the meteor shower every August with dark skies and relatively high altitude the Milky Way is often visible, and the star show is awesome. As we neared Sunrise we encountered several people photographing the stars and meteor shower. Most were understanding as we quickly hiked by with our headlamps, although one disgruntled photographer about a minute from the parking lot asked us to turn them off. Photography at Sunrise is a great opportunity, especially at night, but please be aware that hikers are using the trails! Try not to block the trail with camera equipment, and understand that many backpacking headlamps don't have a red setting. We do our best, but do have to be able to see the trail to make it safely back to the parking lot. We arrived back in the parking lot at about 1:30 am, and found it full of people watching the meteor shower. I've never seen so many people there that late, but it was a great show! If you have a chance to get up to Mt. Rainier in the future to watch the meteors I highly recommend it, although if you want solitude and complete darkness a hike up the trail is in order. All in all a great first trip of the season. While slightly drier than usual Rainier remains a beautiful park with many amazing hikes available! If you found this trip report helpful please consider sponsoring me for Hike-A-Thon! This trip is part of my goal to hike 250 miles in August 2015 while raising money to help maintain the trails I love. Any donation is much appreciated. You can sponsor me at this link: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1468&AID=3052&PID=515822. Any donations of $40 or more qualify you for a WTA membership!