I rolled into Sunrise just about 5:00 pm, and found a large number of people still there. Most of them were heading out, clad in simple street clothes and tennis shoes, so I got a few second looks with my gaiters, ski poles, and full size backpack. They sure came in handy on top of Sourdough Ridge, because as you can see, snow has completely covered one of the steepest parts of the trail. Glacier Peak was moderately visible, but haze almost completely obscured Mount Baker. Further on, snow still covered the center section of my favorite part on this trail, where it traverses a giant talus slope. There was a good ledge stomped into the slope, but I still felt better with the ski poles!



Here we see that Frozen Lake actually still has some snow and ice! It's a great spot to watch the sunset or just take a break before heading back, if you're doing a short hike. If I had more time, I would certainly have gone to the Mount Fremont lookout, up the trail shown here in the background. I saw a total of three Marmots, or maybe the one I took a picture of here just showed up twice... The third one heard me coming down the trail, looked up, and headed straight for me. About five feet away, he meandered off the trail on the downhill side, and nonchalantly went about his business.



Though there were a few clouds surrounding the mountain, it still gave a spectacular view. I don't think I'd ever seen so much snow, not only on the mountain itself, but on the surrounding hillsides and peaks.