Washington Trails
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Mount Rainier Area > NE - Sunrise/White River
Turned around due to fire. Cried when I saw it. Grateful to the other hikers on the trail who turned around with me at little grand park. We heard three cougar whistle/cries near the lake Eleanor camp and the birds were going nuts.
I was devastated to see this fire, hoping all got out safe.
8.7.26: Trails and roads in the White River & Sunrise section of the park are closed due to the Grand Park 2 fire.
7.6.26: FR 73 is closed until further notice due to a washout.
Length
Elevation Gain
Comments
thank you for the report - glad you are safe. Just not a good day today...
Posted by:
wafflesnfalafel on Aug 07, 2026 06:41 PM
The fire maps show it's inside Grand Park itself. Of all the places in the park to burn... :-(
Posted by:
DK1998 on Aug 07, 2026 06:53 PM
And there was obviously no lightning there today, so I'll let you have one guess what caused it. Hint: not a bear with a Bic lighter.
Posted by:
DK1998 on Aug 07, 2026 07:18 PM
My understanding is that lightning strikes can leave a smoldering fire underground that erupts days or weeks later.
Posted by:
DRDana on Aug 08, 2026 07:03 PM
The USFS volunteer at Suntop Lookout yesterday said the same thing. I guess because my faith in humanity has been so badly compromised in recent years it's always my first suspect.
Posted by:
DK1998 on Aug 09, 2026 08:50 AM
I have zero official info about the source, but the park was monitoring a smoldering fire in Grand Park when we were on a backpacking trip in Berkley Park two weeks ago - had warned us we might see helicopters. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is related.
Posted by:
Loren Drummond on Aug 10, 2026 05:11 PM
So very sad!
Posted by:
Bob and Barb on Aug 07, 2026 11:07 PM
My heart is breaking...
Posted by:
trailmarker on Aug 08, 2026 12:01 AM
This is so sad. I hiked here for the first time last year. Was looking forward to going back. Thanks for the update. I hope it doesn't get too out of control
Posted by:
Skipbee on Aug 10, 2026 07:41 PM
I've been using https://wfca.com/fire-map to track it, looks like it's burned across the middle of the route upto Grand Park but not completely out into the upper meadow area from my admittedly less than expert interpretation. They had a couple helicopters out there yesterday that showed up on the data.
Posted by:
wafflesnfalafel on Aug 10, 2026 09:22 PM
Sunrise Friday AM hot
Left at noon
Surprised to hear of fire that afternoon
Another fire near Packwood
Good time to be fire aware in the outdoors
Posted by:
wimpyhiker on Aug 11, 2026 04:45 AM