Subject: [Tweeters] Upper Palisades Lake trail - Mt. Rainier
Date: Jul 21 22:16:41 2010
From: Dave Hayden - dtvhm at nwrain.com


On Tuesday, Sherry and I hiked up to Upper Palisades Lake. The trail starts at Sunrise Point, at Sunrise, Mt. Rainier and was still 50% snow covered. Crossing the snow covered slopes posed a bit of a challenge, but was well worth the trouble after getting to our destination. The wildflowers were really good, but not at their peak just yet. Glacier Lily, Pasque Flower, Marsh Marigold, and Spring Beauty were the most common flowers seen along the trail. Three Pika's were seen at the rock field towards the beginning of the trail, and a mama bear with two cubs were seen in the higher meadow. Birds seen were;

Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-tailed Hawk - 1 pale individual. First thought it was a Rough-legged but knew that couldn't be.
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Pine Siskin
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Clark's Nutcracker
Rufous Hummingbird

After our hike, we drove up to Sunrise for a quick look. A little bit of snow still, and the trails looked good. There were lots of Glacier Lily's blooming and Paintbrush was just starting to come out.

Dave Hayden
dtvhm AT nwrain.com
Centralia, WA