Last updated: February 29, 2024
Place
Sunrise Point Overlook
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Sunrise Point is located 7.4 miles up the Sunrise Road from the White River Campground wye.
Significance:
Contributes to the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District
Amenities
5 listed
Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Trailhead
Season: Summer Only (July - September)
Sunrise Road and Sunrise Point are only open to vehicles during the summer season, typically from early July to September. NOTE: From July 4 - September 2, 2024, timed entry reservations are required to enter the Sunrise Corridor, which includes Sunrise Point, between 7:00 am and 3:00 pm.
At an elevation of 6,120 feet, Sunrise Point offers 360-degree views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding Cascade Range. On clear days, look for Mount Adams to the south and Mount Baker to the north. Landscape architect Ernest A. Davidson, who helped design Sunrise Point, noted that "even the most jaded, scenery-weary tourist cannot help but be thrilled by the magnificent panorama that greets the eye". Sunrise Point is an overlook along the Sunrise Road, which was built specifically to enhance views and connect visitors with the natural landscape. At Sunrise Point the road naturally bends around the tip of a lava ridgeline. Crenulations along the rock walls around the overlook roughly mimic the peak of Mount Rainier. Construction on the road started in 1927 and the road opened to the public in 1931. During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) improved the road, including work at Sunrise Point.
Hiking
Two trails can be accessed from Sunrise Point. The Palisades Lakes Trail begins on the eastern side of Sunrise Point, while the Sourdough Ridge Trail heads to the west, following the ridgeline in parallel to the road towards the Sunrise developed area with a spur trail to Dege Peak along the way.
Sunrise Road Geology – Sunrise Point
The Cascade Range consists of volcanic and metamorphic rocks established over millions of years. Prominent volcanoes like Mount Rainier and Mount Adams are much younger. They have grown on a basement of older uplifted rocks that formed the Cascade Range. Modern Mount Rainier began growing about half a million years ago but it is not the first volcano to be located here. An ancestral volcano grew at about this same site between one and two million years ago. The ancestral volcano has almost entirely eroded away during the past million years, so that only a few remnants of it exist today.