Mount Pilchuck — Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

With the wonderful weather of late drawing to an end, I decided to make one last trip to the top of Pilchuck this season, to see if I couldn't get some good shots of a sunrise through wildfire smoke. I hiked up the night before, passing a couple who said I missed a spectacular sunset, which raised my hopes for a great sunrise. Made it to the top in time to catch a great moonrise, and – to my surprise – to see the northern lights, which were on display thanks to a recent solar storm. The next morning's sunrise was less than great – really just hazy, more than anything.. no great colors – but I wasn't upset, as I had caught a great sunrise from the lookout just two months before. For anybody who may be up for taking supplies to the top: the lookout could use a new notebook for visitors to sign in. There are/were currently two notebooks there, but both chock full from a busy summer. I think that since the books were full, a few people had taken a Sharpie to some of the clean, recently-painted surfaces of the lookout, leaving their names behind for all others to see, dated just the day before, 10/7. I even found one of the couples' tags on a boulder about 100 yards east of the lookout. Oh, also, the lookout could use a new broom. The one I recall seeing there two months ago has been reduced to just the broomstick – saw it up in the rafters. The floor was littered with some slob's sunflower seeds, and there was no easy way to clean up the mess.