This supposedly being the last day that the road to Sunrise was open for the year, I naturally had to get up there and hike on the only bits of trail I'd not crossed this summer! As I found out later, the road was open at least until October 13th, and perhaps even later. Ah well, I can't say as I haven't been up there enough! With the completion of these two hikes, there's not a single trail I haven't been on from Sunrise, and the only one I haven't hiked in it's entirety was the final 3/4 of a mile or so to the Upper Palisades. As you can see, the fall colors above Mather Memorial Parkway (Highway 410) are in full effect. The fifth pictures shows Dege Peak, been there, done that! The meadows below Dege Peak are quite spectacular this time of year, and just below there's color around Sunrise Lake. As you can see, the orange snow depth poles are in for the winter season. Don't be fooled by the sun, it was a balmy 35 degrees at this point!



There's a nice rock-walled overlook just a short jaunt from the parking lot, and a bit farther, a wooden display and another overlook, both on the Emmons Glacier. From here, the official Silver Forest Trail starts.




Though not nearly as spectacular as this trail would be in July and August, with all the wildflowers, there's still some enjoyment to be found. The trees which make up the Silver Forest stand resolutely as ever in the cold, constant breeze. It didn't take long to reach the end of the official trail, and as soon as I started back, it started to snow rather heavily. The flakes were quite small and powdery however, and didn't stick. The wind also picked up a bit, and the mountain was completely obscured, as can be seen on the last photo, of the Emmons Glacier once again!



The wind really began to howl as I approached the parking lot, and plumes of snow were dancing rapidly across the pavement. What appears as a sort of fog in the first picture is actually all snow. It continued to blow and pretend to blizzard for a few minutes, and I considered calling it a day, but the wind calmed down and the snow vanished, so it was back on the trail! As you can see, not much of a crowd today!



The meadows above sunrise certainly have a different look to them now as compared to just a few months before! Almost all the wildflowers are gone and the angle of the sun, not to mention the lateness of my visit, give everything an eerie emptiness. Though, it could just be the fact that it's now about 30 degrees outside and you can count the number of people on the trails with one hand. Not even a half hour separates now and the 'blizzard', and the mountain is almost completely uncovered! Look at Goat Island Mountain, the mass south of Sunrise, across the White River, in the second and third pictures. Now go back and look at the picture right after the Silver Forest sign, of the same mountain. Notice any difference? In the fourth shot we see the Emmons Glacier Overlook, from where I got the great sunrise shots, with Steamboat Prow in the background. Following that we see the view north from Sourdough Ridge, and Antler Peak. At this spot, the wind seriously picks up, I would say about 40-50 mph gusts, now that's some wind chill! In the last photo, I was surprised to note that you can see the top of all three Burroughs Mountains from Sourdough Ridge, though they may be a little tricky to pick out if you haven't been to all of them.



Ah, here's a much better picture of First, Second, and Third Burroughs! Next we see just what the top of Sourdough Ridge looks like, followed by McNeeley Peak, and then another shot of McNeeley with the meadows below. Fremont Lookout is actually in the fourth picture, can you find it? Been there, done all those. The roiling mass of clouds behind little Tahoma was rather unusual, seeming quite of of place for this day. All the windows in the lodge have been boarded up for the season. The REI-mometer read only 25 degrees by the time I got to the car again. I now suspect it's about 5 degrees low, as the Saab-mometer said 30 degrees, and any car made in Sweden is bound to be smarter in the winter than a $2.00 piece of plastic.



As you can see, it continued to snow a bit on the drive down, but there was nothing to worry about on the roads. Not until I got back down to the entrance station was it above freezing. Between highway 410 and the ranger station lies the end of a powerful avalanche from a few years ago. In it's wake, it left this large clumps of vine maple, with their spectacular fall colors. If you look back to the second and third pictures at the top of this page, the path of the avalanche is extremely hard to miss. Since I was there, I thought I'd drive up towards the pass and see if the Mountain had completely cleared up yet. Well, it hadn't exactly cleared up, instead, the Mountain had put on a hat! I got another great shot of all three Burroughs summits, and as you can see, they too received some fresh snow!