Racing Sunset
Pahto (Mount Adams), seen from Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Last weekend I decided to meet up with a friend for a sunset hike at Mount Rainier National Park. We made detailed plans ahead of time for both the hike and sunset watching, and then ended up both arriving later than planned, doing a different hike, and hiking more slowly than anticipated due to snow (yes, more snow!) on the trail and a stop to search for my friend's dropped phone. But sunset wasn't until 8:51pm so we figured we still had plenty of time.
We were hiking with the sun behind us, and time was flying by as it has a way of doing when we hike together, so when we emerged from a forested section of the trail into a meadow, we suddenly noticed that the sun was starting to drop into the trees, and realized we had to turn around and hustle back down the trail to where we had planned to watch the sunset over Tahoma (Mount Rainier).
As we hiked at a quick pace back, through every break in the trees, my eyes were drawn to this view of Pahto and the south Cascades. In the evening light, with that fog rising from the forest below, I finally decided it was necessary to stop for photos, despite our time constraints.
Note: Pahto is the second highest peak in Washington, standing 12,281 feet/3743 meters tall and is considered one of the 5 active volcanoes in the state, although the last eruption was 1000 years ago. It is one of the five sacred mountains to the native Yakama peoples and part of the mountain is territory of the Yakama Nation.
Racing Sunset
Pahto (Mount Adams), seen from Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Last weekend I decided to meet up with a friend for a sunset hike at Mount Rainier National Park. We made detailed plans ahead of time for both the hike and sunset watching, and then ended up both arriving later than planned, doing a different hike, and hiking more slowly than anticipated due to snow (yes, more snow!) on the trail and a stop to search for my friend's dropped phone. But sunset wasn't until 8:51pm so we figured we still had plenty of time.
We were hiking with the sun behind us, and time was flying by as it has a way of doing when we hike together, so when we emerged from a forested section of the trail into a meadow, we suddenly noticed that the sun was starting to drop into the trees, and realized we had to turn around and hustle back down the trail to where we had planned to watch the sunset over Tahoma (Mount Rainier).
As we hiked at a quick pace back, through every break in the trees, my eyes were drawn to this view of Pahto and the south Cascades. In the evening light, with that fog rising from the forest below, I finally decided it was necessary to stop for photos, despite our time constraints.
Note: Pahto is the second highest peak in Washington, standing 12,281 feet/3743 meters tall and is considered one of the 5 active volcanoes in the state, although the last eruption was 1000 years ago. It is one of the five sacred mountains to the native Yakama peoples and part of the mountain is territory of the Yakama Nation.