I'm not going to lie. This was probably one of the most memorable nights of my life and my second favorite backpacking trip!! I had read about a handful of day hikes all in the same area. Juniper Ridge, Jumbo Peak, The Dark Divide and Sunrise Peak all called to me. After some research, I figured I could combine all of them into one epic overnighter. Much of the hike was through bear-grass choked fields and ridges with patches of snow mixed in for good measure. Here you can see us making our way over to the ridge trail in the background as we traversed along the peaks and valleys making up this beautiful region.
Some wildfire smoke was moving in and out during this day, but we did not let us deter us from enjoying the beauty of our surroundings. What I was most drawn to on this trip, was to check out this place called the Dark Divide....it is not dark, but lovely and to spend the night on the top of Sunrise Peak. You see, I had read that Sunrise Peak was the site of an old lookout tower....and I had to feed my obsession. In 1924 the lookout "tower" here consisted of a tent and a phone line on the top of this tall and pointed peak at almost 6000 feet of elevation. From this location, you are surrounded by Mt. Rainier, Mt Adams, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, the Goat Rocks and so many other wonderful landmarks. It was truly a peak with a view! In 1930, a true L4 style wooden Lookout tower was constructed. Once I visited this peak, I could not imagine there being room for any tower!
Sunrise peak is a steep scramble to get up. After many, many miles of hiking it was exhausting navigating the final snow fields to get to the lower peak where hand over foot scrambling is needed. At the top of the peak, there remains a metal hand rail....which looks wildly out of place....watch that first step!!
This is a place that fairy tales need to be written about! So the rocky outcropping that makes up Sunrise Peak is a volcanic core. The top is very small indeed. The surface of this high core felt to be maybe 10 feet in diameter to me. My crazy plan (which seemed better in my head than in person) was to spread out our sleeping bag and spend the night on this tiny hard and inhospitable peak. Once we got up there however, I had rather wished for a plan B as I realized that if either of us rolled in our sleep, we would surely fall to our deaths off the 360 degree cliff side drop offs. I also realized that having a latrine would be challenging. But almost as soon as we arrived, a massive inversion layer was blowing in all around us as fast as I have ever seen. The sun was sinking fast in the sky and I knew this peak had been my goal and that we are not quitters. So we would stay the night on this peak, no matter what. As the clouds rushed in, it felt like I was watching ocean water pouring in all around us. I could not get over the sensation that we were going to drown if the clouds kept coming up and over us.
Nova looked at me like I was completely nuts, but jumped on that sleeping bag as soon as I rolled it out and went sound to sleep. She was one tired girl after that day of hiking and climbing! I was not sleepy at all....it was terrifying me as that inversion layer rose and rose, higher and higher, completely surrounding us, and choking out everything visible. While Nova slept, my irrational fear of suffocating grew until the clouds were level with the top of that peak I stood on. This was a night where I knew I needed my big girl panties! But just as I was getting ready to hold my breath, by the grace of God, the rising clouds stopped right at the very lip of the peak just beneath my boots. I felt Him telling me that He loved me in that moment. I also felt like I could walk right out on that layer of clouds straight to heaven….which I suppose we would have if we had tried.
It felt like the only thing left in the world was our peak, the 4 big mountain volcanoes that we could still see the peaks of and the setting sun. What a sunset it was!! But then you should have seen that night sky. I don’t think I slept at all, as I have never seen a night sky light up like that…..all above the inversion layer, so it felt like the most private show you could imagine. This was not just single shooting stars, but meteors that would break up into more pieces than you could count, fanning out across the night sky looking like the world was literally on fire from above. I have never seen anything like it in my life! The morning sunrise was as intense as the sunset! I never wanted to leave! But then I think that might have had something to do with the dread of descending off that peak! Doing a rock climb descending backwards is far harder to both of us than the ascent!
In the morning I took a photo with the sunrise behind us showcasing the shape of the peak we stood on as a shadow on the clouds below. I have to admit, I did try to jump up and down on that peak to see if I could see myself in that shadow, but alas, it did not work.
Other than this shadow picture, I did not take many photos of Sunrise peak herself as she was rather elusive as we hiked along the ridges and valleys around her. But you can see her in the distance in this one standing tall and proud and waiting for us to come sleep with her that night. I will never forget her as she still calls to me to return again soon!
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