Glacier Basin Loop, Burroughs Mountain — Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025

Summary:
Glacier Basin Trail to Sunrise Trail to Burroughs Trail to Third Burroughs, then back the same way. Gaia recorded 10.6 miles and 3500 feet climb. Snow depth ranged from a few inches to a foot or so, enough to require a lot more effort than snow-free hiking. I recommend bringing microspikes. Air temperature was above freezing most of the day, making some of the descent slushy. The scenery was worth it.

Details:
The White River entrance was open today but NPS has announced it will be closed for the season next Monday. The WR campground is now closed for camping but the day-use parking is open, and the vault toilets on loop B of the campground are open. The restrooms just inside the park entry station are also open.

Temperature was a little below freezing while driving in, and the road after the entry station was very frosty. I also saw a total of 5 elk crossing 410 during my drive in—beware as usual.

My goal for the day was the Glacier Basin-Burroughs loop, plus Third Burroughs. Most people recommend doing the loop CCW and I would normally agree, but I was most intent on getting to Third Burroughs as soon as possible, so I went CW. As it turned out, once I got the top of Burroughs 3 I was too tired to do the remainder of the loop (especially the climb back up Burroughs 2), so I did it as an out-and-back (still plenty spectacular). The main reason I was extra tired was snow.

I got on the trail about 8:20. The Glacier Basin trail is in great shape as usual, except for one blockage by a fallen tree. Not very hard to get around, but I think it's a sign we're not in normal times. (It's a thin tree and I thought maybe since the trunk is broken I'd be able to move it, but no, it needs a saw.) Snow on the trail started at about 5000 feet elevation and by 5200 feet it was continuous. In the morning it was fairly firm, but in the afternoon it was getting wet and slushy. So it's likely to be icy in the morning.

Once on the trail up to Burroughs, the snow was consistently at least ankle-deep and often more. There was a very fresh-looking set of boot prints that helped with footing. These prints went both up and down the trail, and continued past the point where it goes out of the forest and across open slopes. But they broke off somewhere around 6700 feet. So for a while I was breaking the trail. I'm pretty serious about avoiding damage to the plants up at that altitude, and the snow wasn't deep enough to fully protect them, so I tried staying close to the designated trail by frequently checking GaiaGPS.

I reconnected with the established trail shortly before the junction with the trail to Burroughs 3. And that B3 trail was invisible, just smooth unbroken snow. I decided to give it a shot, and once again consulted Gaia frequently as I broke trail all the way up. This turned out to be slow and tiring, but I made it to the top. On B3 I always like to go all the way to the northern end of the summit ridge to get the full 360-degree view. I did that, but it was the most treacherous part of the hike because of snow covering gaps between many rocks and boulders.

While I took a long lunch break at the B3 summit, I met 3 other parties totalling about 8 people. We chatted and they had all come via Sunrise Rim and Burroughs 1-2. They mentioned icy trails but no serious snow obstacles or risky exposure.