~5 hours walk in the afternoon. Thick clouds when we left Seattle. In just 5 minutes entering the park, we got through the clouds. Rainier's eastern face glisten in the blue sky. As always, stopped at Sunrise Point parking lot - one of the prettiest views in the park. Mt Adams can easily be seen to the south. The drive from here to Sunrise is lined with blue and red.
Walked to Berkeley Park first. Frozen Lake is 1/3 frozen. 2 patches of snow, easy cross. Berkeley Park was covered with early summer flowers: glacier lily, western anemone, corn lily. Very green. Had lunch next to a creek. Quite some Jeffery's shooting star and marsh marygold. Had to cross the creek (not the trail) to find some patches of avalanche lily. I like these better than the yellow ones.Returned to the Wonderland Trail. Proceeded to the east towards Granite Creek, until the pass. Dryer, rockier. More lupines, phlox, penstemon, paintbrush, even heather (white, golden, pink). Very good view at the pass. There was a slope densely covered with blue (Jacob's ladder, harebell, cusick's speedwell), white and yellow (Fan-leaf Cinquefoil, ...). Clouds moved in...
On the way back, detoured to visit Sunrise Camp. Not too bad. Shadow Lake is not too close, but not a far walk. A nice looking wooden shelter, completely boarded up, why?
Back in Sunrise parking lot, a buck emerged high on the flowering slope. Almost no one noticed him. Good size antlers.
Clear sky in Seattle, and to the south. Traffic jam, blocked street due to the Torchlight parade, which just ended when I walked home.
