Constructed during the early 1930s in a valley adjacent to Yakima Park and Burroughs Mountain, the Sunrise automobile campground and picnic area provided beautiful views and easy access to subalpine and alpine hiking trails. By the late 1960s, however, park managers realized that fragile vegetation communities in the area were being severely damaged by
continued heavy use.
As a result, the auto campground was closed in 1973 and
replaced with less damaging walk-in camps for backpackers but the campground loop and access roads remained as highly visible scars on the landscape. Sadly, no money was available to fund restoration until now.
Thanks to a unique three-year partnership program among the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation, and Canon USA, Mount Rainier has received a $50,000 grant to restore the natural subalpine ecosystem to the former campground site. The program, Expedition into the Parks, brings park staff, researchers and volunteers together to collect critical data and to perform hands-on conservation and restoration work.
This project will enable Mount Rainier National Park to
remove the road system, recontour the road prism to the
original site topography, and restore native plant communities. A trail will be constructed along the old roadbed connecting the walk-in campsites to the Sunrise Visitor Center area. Funds will also enable the preservation of a historic building on the site.
Volunteers Provide Time & Talent
While the grant will fund necessary services and supplies, park staff and volunteers will do the work. For instance, members of:
- Washington Army National Guard, 898th Engineer Battalion, are volunteering their expertise, labor and equipment to obliterate the old road system and to
recontour the road prism to the original site topography.
This project is being accomplished as a training
assignment for their reserve unit. Without their
volunteer assistance, funding would not be sufficient to
accomplish this restoration project. The Guard worked on-site, seven days per week, for a period of two
to three weeks beginning August 11, 1997.
- Boeing Management Association, Garden Club of America and the park's meadow revegetation crew will help
salvage plants growing in the construction area by
removing them before construction activity begins and by
replanting them after it concludes.
- Native Plant Society of Washington will collect flower
seeds to be used for propagation of plants in the
park's greenhouse. These plants will help vegetate
bare ground areas next year.
- Mount Rainier Guest Services, Inc., and the USS Rainier
are also working in partnership with the National Park
Service to make this project happen.
Trail Detours May Be Necessary
We need the support of park visitors during this project. Please obey trail closures and detours that are necessary for your safety during the construction period.
Backpackers: A portion of the Wonderland Trail between Frozen Lake and Sunrise will be closed during the construction process. Sunrise Camp will also be closed while workers and equipment are nearby. For hiking between Frozen Lake and Sunrise, the Sourdough Ridge Trail will be open during the entire construction period. The Burroughs Loop Trail and the Sunrise Rim Trail will be open on an
intermittent basis only. Please check the status with rangers before attempting to hike this route.
Detailed hiking maps are available at visitor centers and
wilderness information centers throughout the park.
