The trails are very well maintained here! This was our first time hiking here but probably won't be the last. Forecast called for light rain throughout the day. The sky wasn't visible at all during our hike. Visibility was great on the mountain and pass itself, but views were not had. We saw some goats, though! We were able to make it to Skyscraper Pass pretty quickly so we took Wonderland trail to Granite Creek campground. Whew! That was an elevation gain. Any time or strain we avoided in the well-maintained trail to Skyscraper was undone on this addition. Worth it but it was a tough one.  

Great hike and great day for it. It was clear and good air quality despite a nearby fire. Climb to the peak requires little scramble at the end but nothing too hard. Very few people attempting this trail as most from the visitor center are going elsewhere. We had the summit to ourselves for an hour we were there. Also got to hear an avalanche and see it rolling. Saw the herd of goat travel from the top of the meadows towards Berkeley camp.

Note: it seems WTA has the elevation gain wrong. The skyscraper pass shows 1700 ft. and skyscraper mountain shows 1300 ft. It should be other way around. 

Preliminary report

Writing a quick preliminary report on some of the main conditions; I'll amend it Tuesday with photos.

trail conditions

All of the blowdowns near James Camp and between James and the West Fork White River crossing area cleared, and there has been quite a bit of recent trail work done there. Big thanks to all the trail crews: that looked like a lot of trees to clear and trail damage to reinforce!

There is some recent rockfall along the Carbon Glacier south of the suspension bridge, but the washouts below Dick Creek camp have been properly routed around and are easy to follow.

Beyond that, the trail was in great shape; I think we had to climb over only two or three logs in the entire 36-odd miles we covered.

river crossings

The Winthrop Creek bridge is in good condition; when we crossed it at about 4pm on Saturday the west end was a bit damp from spray.

The West Fork White River crossing near Mystic Lake at about 5pm on Sunday was a slightly challenging rock hop: I recommend crossing it earlier in the day so the water level isn't as high.

The West Fork White River crossing between James and Fire Creek was fine Monday at 10am, but we'd heard that late afternoon on the weekend the water was getting close to the base of one of the bridges. Note that there are two distinct crossings: one involving a rock hop and large logs slightly west of the main river, and the two new log bridges with railings north of where most GPS maps show the trail crossing the river. You'll have to go follow a beat-down track downstream a bit to find the those bridges, but they're in good shape. You can see the previous bridge hung up on the rocks on the east side, where the trail reaches the river.

bears

We saw bears each day: a mama and cub by Shadow Lake on day one; a mama and two cubs at the unnamed (to my knowledge) lake on the south side of Windy Gap; and a mama and 1-3 cubs (we didn't know if we were seeing the same cub repeatedly, or multiple cubs) at the creek just north of Berkeley Camp. In all cases they all eventually trundled off after we chatted at them. We'd heard reports of up to six bears between Yellowstone and Windy Gap.

Berries

Lots of blueberries between Mystic and James, though many of them are a bit beyond peak ripeness and taste a little off. Especially just above Mystic they were quite good.

Bugs

No bothersome bugs, except for a massive swarm at the top of Skyscraper. We took a side trip up there for the view, but immediately were swarmed with flies and beat a hasty retreat without any photos. There was hardly any wind, which is probably why there were so many flies.

August 23: Sunrise, First Burroughs, Skyscraper, Mystic Lake

August 24: Carbon River, Yellowstone, James Camp

August 25: White River crossing, Grand Park, Berkeley

Skyscraper Mountain gets less attention than other peaks around Sunrise. Understandable, since it's a bit of a scramble to ascend, and the summit only has room for about 3 people at a time. When I learned the Milky Way would be near optimum visibility for the latter part of this week, I decided Skyscraper would be a good place to set up my tripod without tripping over a lot of others with the same idea (I'm looking at you, Mt. Fremont). As it turned out, I did have the summit to myself. But holy cow, I had no idea I would also be treated to a spectacular sunset.

I arrived at Sunrise at about 4:30 PM, with a 3-to-5 timed entry permit (which I easily got online the previous evening). There were quite a few cars lining the side of the road, I suppose waiting for 5 PM when the permits would no longer be required. The parking at Sunrise was close to full and bustling, but I had no trouble finding a spot. The facilities were up and running. I spent some time organizing my equipment and thoughts.

I hit the trail at 6 PM and arrived at Skyscraper Pass at 7:20. The trail is mostly in great shape, with just a few sections that have a lot of loose rock, such as the final approach to the pass. There were no bugs. When I got to the pass there was patchy fog billowing all around, intermittently covering both Rainier and Skyscraper. Fortunately, the pass itself stayed clear (I think because of the way air flows up over it from Berkeley Park). Not knowing whether the fog would get better or worse, and seeing that visibility on the way up Skyscraper was often zero, I decided to wait in the Pass (which has great views too) to see how things evolved. I set up a time-lapse video (linked below) of Rainier with the fog playing around it, and let that run for an hour and a half while I looked around and admired the gorgeous sunset unfolding to the west.

As shown in the video, the fog followed the sun. At the moment the last sun rays hit Mt. Rainier, the last of the fog blew out to the west, leaving Rainier, the Pass, Skyscraper, and the sky completely clear.

So, next I headed up to the Skyscraper summit. I absolutely needed my headlamp. It's steep, and mostly covered with loose rock, so even in daylight it requires careful attention. I was glad I had poles too. I arrived at the summit right at 9:00 and set up a tripod for Milky Way photos. It took about another half hour for the sky to reach maximum darkness. Even then, I believe stray light from Tacoma is still significant. In a way that's probably helpful for illuminating Rainier, but it does reduce the contrast of the stars.

It's important to note that photos don't really represent what the Milky Way looks like to the eye, because the camera is more sensitive, especially regarding color. But it's still thrilling to see it with your eyes and think about what it really is. I could see the complete arch of our galaxy, though faint, from horizon to horizon.

I spent 2 hours on the summit, to make sure I'd squeezed every possible photo out. Fairly soon after I settled in, I noticed a pair of glowing red eyes between two rocks, right next to my pack. It took me a second to realize it was a Pika scouting for snacks, whose eyes were reflecting my red head lamp. I chased it away, but spent the rest of my time up there wondering if it had found a way past my defenses (I don't think it did).

Coming down Skyscraper in the inky blackness of 11 PM was a little intimidating, but I took it slowly and carefully. My headlamp batteries lasted all the way back to Sunrise at a little before 1 AM. A great day (evening/night) on the trail.

Bottom Line:

A wild weather day, starting with dense smoke that started to blow out just as I reached Skyscraper. Gusty hold-on-to-your-hat winds all day, which helped clear the air eventually. Beautiful fluffy clouds over the mountain. Scramble route provides a different perspective of the mountain and Burroughs.

Stats:

• Distance: ~8 miles
• Vertical: 2250 ft
• Duration: 4-1/4 hours
• Road/Parking: Morning reservation at the Sunrise entrance with no wait. Plenty of parking at Sunrise. Toilets, and concession open (they now take credit cards). Cell reception near the entrance only.
• Weather: Dense smoke yielding to mostly sunny, 60-70Fs, very windy with blowing sand/dust at times (hold on to your hats!), no bugs
• Water: There was no water for filtering on this trail; carry water
• Flowers: Areas of spotty flowers, especially near some streams in upper Berkeley Park, otherwise mostly done for the year, with emerging fall color (meadows and tundra are more yellow/orange than green now).
• Trail: Lollipop loop, Sourdough to Frozen Lake, Frozen Lake to Skyscraper Pass via Wonderland, scramble from Skyscraper to 2nd Burrough, Burroughs trail back to Frozen Lake, and return on Sourdough. Trail is in good condition, although dry and dusty on Sourdough, with some blowing sand on Burroughs. Water levels are very low in the Berkeley Park tarns (never seen Frozen Lake so empty), and the meadows are mostly dried out. The scramble from Skyscraper Pass to Burroughs is a rock route with a cliffy area where a helmet is recommended. Please stay off the meadows; the route is doable entirely on rock by hugging the ridgeline, with a visible boot path most of the way. Route-finding skills required. CAUTION: Exposure and rockfall danger. Elusive animals today with just a few marmots and pika, maybe due to the smoke and wind.
• Takeaway: Fall is upon us at tundra level with some emerging red/orange foliage. First snow on the Burroughs can make for a spectacular hike - planning on it! 

It looks like WTA might be further compressing images, impacting image quality. High resolution images can be found at the Instagram link below, as well as in the video I will post later today ;)