Fremont Lookout, Skyscraper Mountain — Saturday, Jul. 1, 2023

What a stunning opening day at Sunrise! My wife and I hiked with our 1-year-old in a carrier to the Fremont Lookout and then headed out to Skyscraper Mountain after we hit the Frozen Lake junction again (though only one adult scrambled to the top of Skyscraper—didn’t want to try it on tired legs with a baby in a backpack). We left later than planned and were worried the parking lot would be full by the time we arrived, but we only waited for a couple minutes at the entry booth at 10:00 am and were parked by 10:30. I would imagine we wouldn’t be so lucky in a couple weeks—I anticipate the lot will start filling up closer to 9.

Trail conditions: One small snow patch to cross before Frozen Lake; otherwise, the Fremont trail is dry and clear. Roughly 6 slushy snow patches on the Wonderland Trail toward Skyscraper—all easy to cross, though the last one at ~3.5 miles (right before the trail up Skyscraper diverges from the Wonderland) is on a steeper slope with a nasty runout, so I saw some people scrambling up a short section of loose rock to go around it.

We didn’t attempt Burroughs but watched from afar as people crossed some treacherous-looking snowfields on a very exposed slope heading to Second Burroughs. I wouldn’t consider Burroughs for a few more weeks unless you have traction and comfort moving on exposed, snowy slopes.

We saw tons of chipmunks, three big marmots, and six goats that were barely visible on a distant hillside.

Per trail descriptions, I believe we hiked ~11 miles total for both trails, which we did in ~7 hours including a long lunch break and lots of stopping and going. A perfect start to the hiking season at Sunrise!