Saw two bears (about 4pm at a small meadow north of Grand Park, and about 8:30pm at Berkeley Park), one elk (about 9:30 on the ridge east of Frozen Lake, less than 10 meters away from us), and 3 deers along Hwy 410 while leaving the park ! Great sunset, and lovely moon (large and orange in color).
From Sunrise, the trail rises slowly to Frozen Lake (1.5 miles), overlaps with Wonderland Trail for 0.7 miles, then descends to Berkley Park. Lush, glacier lily and avalanche lily abound. Rainier disappears behind Skyscraper Mountain (7018ft). Affi Creek drops to a small waterfalls about 1 hr after the fork with Wonderland Trail.
One hour of ups and downs in woods later, we are greeted with the grand meadow. Trail forks (about 3.5 miles after leaving Wonderland Trail), west to Windy Gap, or forward to Lake Eleanor (3.3 miles). 2 miles of non-stop meadow with Rainier in the back! The view is just grand. Carpets of yellow (common lomatium) and silver (cotton weed? pussytoe?). Some shooting star, paintbrush, lupine. Pure heaven. Maybe a bit early for the flower peak, but not many mosquitoes. After leaving Grand Park, steep descent in snow. A muddy and lovely meadow (a bear a couple of hundred meters away) later, and more descent and ascent over confusing snow. Lake Eleanor is a typical forest lake, nothing notable.
Despite the terrible traffic at Auburn around White River Amphitheater, this is one of my most rewarding days. Saw much more than I can hope for. Even the weather was pleasant.
