All alone on a peak that a week ago had throngs of people hiking to it. Georg and I started about 7:45 and got to Dege about 11. From the Sunrise parking lot to Dege and back to the White River Trail intersection we saw no one. 3 hours of solitude. There were cars parked up and down the road to the full parking lot so there were a lot of people around. We figure they either did the loop, the lookout or just tried to make it to the parking lot or Glacier Basin.
We spent a half-hour plus soaking i the views and solitude. Once on top of Dege you can see why it is so popular. 360 views of a good part of the park and its surrounding peaks/hikes. We saw Tamanos, Slide, Grand Park, Skyscraper which were earlier hikes this year and then The Chimneys, Marcus Peak, all the feature around the Mountain and the almost endless meadows that greet you when first arriving at Sunrise. Also, the beginning of the White River is visible.
On the way down we met a lot of people just hoping to get to the parking lot at Sunrise. These people had started after 2 and a good portion had few supplies. One hiker had a valid reason, sunset pics from the lookout. I noticed he had a serious pack. He was from Alaska. He was amazed at the greenery. In Alaska he said most everything over 2000 feet was pretty barren once away from the coast. We have heard this a lot from through hikers we have met on the PCT. One hiker from Switzerland said he liked our mountains better because they were so green.
Happy hiking!
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