Fremont Lookout — Saturday, Jul. 17, 1999

Mount Rainier Area > NE - Sunrise/White River

I had a glorious hike to Fremont LO today. Arrived at Sunrise at 11am on a sunny Sunday in July to find over half the parking lot empty. Holy Cow!! Most of the people I met seemed to be from out of state or even foreign countries judging by the half dozen languages I overheard. Evidentally, locals are letting the clouds intimidate them. The clouds ended a few miles out of Enumclaw and the sun was shining brightly as I headed up the partially snow-covered trail. There is some snow on the way to Frozen Lake, but the trail from there to the LO is dry. Most hikers were heading there as the other options (Burroughs, Skyscraper, and maybe Berkeley Park) still need an ice ax. Even so, the top was not very crowded for a weekend (another Holy Cow). However, the squirrels have become so tamed that I can't stretch out for a lunch snooze without them crawling on me so I headed down into the basin towards Skyscraper. The view of Rainier is not as good, but there was nobody around and no critters crawling on me. A nice nap and then back to the car.