Every once in a while, you have one of those weekends where you string together a whole bunch of activities together. The last weekend in September was one of those weekends: I wanted to get some skiing in, I wanted to camp, and I wanted to do something with Oliver, who was only free on Sunday. What better way to satisfy those constraints than with four different trips in two days? I started by biking up the (closed to cars) road to Sunrise to catch the, well, sunrise on Rainier, then I headed over to Chinook Pass to snap a few photos before heading up to Stevens Pass to link up with Travis to camp at Minotaur Lake. Sunday morning I met up with Oliver at the Surprise Creek trailhead, just west of Stevens, dropped a car there, then drove up to the Pass proper for a nice trail run along ~17 miles of the PCT south of Stevens. Finally, with the last few hours of daylight, I booked it up to Tonga Ridge to catch the sunset from Mount Sawyer.
Adam kindly offered to let me borrow his souped up e-bike, which promised to make the predawn ride up to Sunrise a bit more pleasant. I snagged it from his place, then drove down to the White River entrance to Mount Rainier late Friday night, and slept in my car. I woke up to a chilly and clear morning with not another soul to be seen. I hopped on Adam’s bike and blasted up the road at 20+ mph the whole way - it felt like cheating compared to the last time I rode up the road on my own bike! The alpenglow was beautiful from Sunrise Point, with a few inches of fresh snow, and I hurried along the last few miles of the road and ran up the trail towards Frozen Lake. I didn’t have much of a plan for where to be for first light, and I don’t think I found any particularly interesting compositions, but it was still a lovely morning.
First light on Rainier and Little Tahoma from Sunrise Park.
Morning light and fresh snow on the Cowlitz Chimneys and Banshee Peak.
I continued along the trail past Frozen Lake and up to Burroughs Mountain, where I found myself wallowing through foot+ deep drifts in spots. I saw tracks in the snow from the resident Sunrise fox, but didn’t see the fox himself - too bad. On the alpine plain on Burroughs, I had fun photographing patterns in the windblown snow, then made a loop back to Sunrise by walking down to Shadow Lake. I retrieved my bike, blasted down the road, and headed up to Chinook Pass, which, unlike the crystal clear weather at Sunrise, was shrouded in thick fog, which emphasized the lovely fall colors. I found a patch of marginally snow covered heather that let me get a few hundred feet of skiing in, then called it quits and drove up to Stevens Pass, stopping for donuts in Renton.
Little Tahoma and Rainier from First Burroughs.
Fall colors and fog at Chinook Pass
Swirling fog below Naches Peak
I linked up with Travis at Stevens, and we headed up the Smithbrook Road in his sweet old Subaru GL. It was a short hike up to Minotaur Lake, and we enjoyed the view down to Theseus Lake before heading up Labyrinth for sunset, with plenty of company. Glacier Peak looked nice with a fresh coat of snow, and we had a cool angle on the Monte Cristo peaks. We found a pleasant campsite a few hundred feet below the summit, and had a nice perch to watch the sunrise from over Minotaur Lake before hiking back down to the car.
Fall colors around Theseus Lake
Glacier Peak at sunset
The moon rose through a gap in the clouds that looked almost like a coin slot
Sunrise above Minotaur Lake and Minotaur Mountain
Fog covering Lake Wenatchee in the distance
I hurried back along Route 2 to Scenic, late to my meet-up time with Oliver. We dropped a car at the Surprise Creek trailhead, then headed back up to Stevens to start our PCT jaunt. It was very pleasant running on a great trail, not too busy, sunny, and pleasantly cool temps. Even if much of the trail is tucked into the forest, it was lovely to visit a bunch of lakes, and very cool to pop over the pass above Lake Susan Jane and be in the headwaters of the Icicle. The section of the trail above Trap Lake offered the nicest views, and before long we were zipping down the switchbacks to Surprise Lake. The Surprise Lake trail was lovely running in the old growth, and then we were back at the trailhead!
Running high in the Tunnel Creek Valley
Somewhere along the PCT
Slippery Slab Tower above Trap Lake, with great colors!
Approaching Trap Pass
Boardwalk along Surprise Creek
Oliver and I grabbed some food in Skykomish, then, with the few remaining hours of daylight, I wanted to find a spot to watch the sunset. Tonga Ridge seemed like it would do the trick, so I hauled ass up FSR 6830, reaching the trailhead just in time to run over to Mount Sawyer, reaching the meadows below the summit minutes before they lost the light. Mount Daniel looked great with fresh snow as well, and it was a nice mellow hike to cap off a fun weekend!
Mount Daniel at sunset
Mount Daniel and the last of the evening light on Mount Sawyer
Mount Baring to the west
Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak
Lynch, Terrace, Dip Top, and Mount Daniel