Did a mid-week hike to Suntop. Met no-other parties on the drive up, on the drive down, or on the hike. Wow, solitude!

The first 1.5 miles on the 83 road are very rough with MANY potholes, but once you turn onto the 8315 road, things are better.  Still a few potholes, some washboarding here and there, and some encroaching brush, but not too bad.

The last 1.5 miles of the road before the top are gated. The signage says the gate is closed if the lookout is not staffed.  It took me 25 minutes to hike up from the dusty parking area just before the gate to the lookout.  It is a steady uphill, and the trail itself is pretty eroded and gullied, but not difficult.

The parking lot and restrooms at the top look fairly new. Nice gravel covered walkways and a few picnic tables.  The views of Mt Rainier and all of the surrounding forests from the walkway around the lookout were awesome! There were a few flowers out around the lookout, but it is well before peak color.  Of course the lookout itself was closed since it was un-staffed.

What a gorgeous day for Suntop! We arrived to about 5 cars in the parking lot around noon. We went up the trail and it was in great condition. The bathroom at the top is open but currently not usable. There was feces smeared all over the toilet seat and no toilet paper inside. We went down the fire road, which was also in great condition. There were very tiny snow patches left in some of the shadows along the side that my dog greatly enjoyed. It will probably be totally melted in a couple of days. Can’t complain about such a clear trail this early in June!

We started from the Buck Creek end of Suntop, but skipped the first 0.4 miles. Instead, we drove up 7160 about 2 miles and onto 7160-310. We only drove up 1/5 of the way as the branches were getting too narrow and I like the paint on my car. Did a multi-point turnaround and parked in a wide spot in case someone was parked above.

Walked about .45 miles just past the fire ring and went right onto Suntop. There was no one parked at the end of the road there. The trail was in good shape - its usual rutted form, but slightly damp so the dust was tamped down well. We were surprised to hear no motorcycles  or guns. Very fine day indeed! On the way up a trail runner and dog caught us off guard as we rarely see people here. The another couple with dog and later a group of three and dog. That was more than we counted all the times we've been out here.

We took the side trip to Doe Falls and crossed over the creek and turned back. There's really not a great unobstructed view, but you can peer between branches. Not a waste of a side trip, but I wouldn't make it my destination.

Crossed over a dry 7160, but as we headed up the trail, we looked down around the hairpin turn and saw a lot of white. The trail remained dry until about 4900 feet. Patches of hard snow turned to continuous snow for about 0.15 miles to Buck Creek. It was all fine to walk on. We followed a faint bootpath which croosed the creek over a snowbridge. I jumped down into an exposed part of the creek and got some water. I was able to stand in the middle of the creek on a gravel bar as the water was not high at all. This was our turnaround. Went the whole day and saw only 2 motorcycles right near our car. A couple views of Ranger Creek Trail, Noble Knob, I believe, and Noble Knob Trail.

Lovely little afternoon hike! The lower gate is open and the upper gate is closed, however the road beyond the upper gate has lingering snow (see pic), is honestly in really rough condition (deep ruts and a fallen boulder) and will probably need some work to make it passable for cars. Trail itself is in fine shape. Lots of awesome work has been done around the lookout with improved paths and a fresh new balcony/ramp/stairs - saw plenty of elk sign and one young cow plus a cute but very fast coffee-colored rabbit. Also most likely some cougar tracks but was unable to confirm as they were pretty faint. Only some small snow patches remain on the upper road, which can be bypassed by taking the trail to the top.

Also, whoever comes up to open the lookout should probably bring a new battery for the smoke detector…thought it was a strange bird call for a minute!

FOUND: Adult snow mitten on the road about 0.4 miles from the lookout.  If it’s yours, please provide description in the comments of this report (color and manufacturer) and we’ll figure out how to get it back to you.

Gate is open past the sno-park. Road up to the lookout is snow free until ~3.8 miles from the turn onto FS 7315.  I was able to drive my Buick Encore through the first bit of snow (about 20 ft in length), but slightly scraped the underside on the high mounded snow between the tire tracks, so when I came to the next section of snow (about 0.1 miles later) I turned around and found a spot where I could get off the road to park.  Unlike the Tesla that came up sometime while I was hiking and parked in the middle of the road just before the second bit of snow.  Thankfully I was downhill from them so I didn’t have to try to squeeze past them.  Please remember, just because your car isn’t able to go any farther doesn’t mean someone with a higher clearance vehicle hasn’t kept going – don’t block their way back down!

Speaking of high clearance vehicles, there were tracks from some that continued on until ~4.45 miles from the turn onto FS 7315 (about 0.2 miles before the summer parking area below the final gate).  After that it was footprints only.

I decided to go up on all the way on the road and come back on the trail then the road.

From the first patch of snow, the road varied between snow patches ~12-18 inches deep to completely snow free.  Initially the patches of snow tended to be around 20-50 ft long, but length increased as I went higher.  Just below the summer parking area (when the upper gate is closed) there was a stretch of snow that went on for roughly 320 ft.  About 0.5 miles above the summer parking area was another long section of snow, this one lasted a quarter of a mile and, being in the shade, was deeper than the others, getting over 2 ft in depth.  After that the road was back in the sun for the rest of the trip to the lookout, and the remaining snow patches were very short and not very deep.  I didn't feel the need to put on my microspikes, but was glad I had them with me - there were a couple sections of snow toward the top that had they been more frozen I would have wanted to use the spikes.  See photo #2 for some examples of snow on the road.

You can avoid the worst of the snow by taking the trail from where it first intersects the road all the way up to the lookout.  There were a few short sections of snow on the trail, but they were not deep and were easily navigated.  There is also a small tree down over the trail about 300 ft above where it first intersects the road, but this was easy to step over.

I got to the top and enjoyed having the views all to myself for almost an hour before I forced myself to head back to the car.  The toilet at the top was unlocked but not stocked.  Also, please be sure to pack out your trash.

Saw three people heading up as I was going down.  Gaia tracked the day at about 3.6 miles RT and +900ft gain.