This hike is somewhat unusual in that you are losing elevation for most of it, which means the return trip mostly uphill.

We arrived at 11:30 AM and lucked into the only available spot in the Sunrise parking lot. You should arrive early if you want to avoid the crowds.

The initial climb up to Frozen Lake was fairly crowded. Most of the tourists stop at Frozen lake, so from there on we saw less and less people until we finally were all by ourselves.

The wild flowers in Berkeley Park were absolutely fantastic. We hit Grand Park after the peak bloom so it wasn't as pretty as it can be, but it was still very pretty. The normally stunnng Rainier views were absent because it clouded up just as we arrived at Grand Park.

We continued on towards Lake Eleanor, but decided to turn back when the skies started looking threatening. I was wearing cotton shorts and a cotton t-shirt and carrying a cotton sweatshirt and lightweight gore-tex jacket. I was not very excited about hiking 12 miles in the rain.

We had forgotten our map, so we didn't know where we were when we turned back. Later, we found out we had been within a few hundred yards of the lake.

The climb back up to Grand Park is fairly steep. It was foggy at that elevation and remained so the rest of the way back. The fog was thin enough that we traveled in a bubble of what appeared to be clear air. It made for some intrigung views and also kept the mosquitoes at bay.

The trail across the last half of Grand Park is very narrow and feels like you are walking in the trough from a cement truck. The edges of our feet were sore by the time we reached flatter ground.

We saw a deer by Berkeley Park camp and another by Frozen Lake. We also saw the largest Yellow Cedar I've ever seen.

One annoyance: The signs on the trail have conflicting and even false mileage. For example, there is a sign at Berkeley Park Camp which says the intersection with the Wonderland Trail is 2 miles away. At the intersection, the sign says Berkeley Park Camp is only 1.5 miles away (which feels right).