Sunrise Mine Trail 09-01-2018

A hiker has been missing for a month today.  She climbed Vesper Peak and never made it back.  As a mom, and a fellow solo hiker, I have been really shaken up by this.  Vesper Peak shares the Sunrise Mine trailhead, and much of the trail with the Vesper Lake/Headlee Pass trail.  With my adventure dog at 9 yrs old and a longer hike planned for me tomorrow, I decided to hike just 2 miles in and just see if I could help at all, see anything, hear anything, have the dogs key in on anything.  We did not have any luck, but this trail is breathtaking.

This trail is not for the faint of heart or someone who thinks hiking is just walking through the woods.  You'll scramble over some boulders, amid loose rocks, do a lot of steep hiking, cross creeks on structures that are bridges only because you decide they are, and stumble over roots.

You even cross a little avalanche chute.

In the forested parts of the trail, you'll notice some pretty massive and gnarly trees.  Also some neat nature sculptures.

You can see the Sunrise Mine (I'm assuming - this could be another mine) from the trail.

When you get up into the last valley before the steep climb to Headlee Pass and on to Vesper Peak or Lake, you'll hear pika squeaks echoing.  If you look around, you might even see one.

Both Cedar and Luna seemed to love this trail, although both were equally glad when we made it back to the car.  They jumped up the jumps and leaped off the ledges, and Luna tried to climb every boulder by the trail.  In bribed Cedar to join her on this one.

The jagged rugged cliffs and peaks tower above you, reminding you of your real size, as mist sweeps slowly across them.

The brush was mainly mountain ash and delicious blue huckleberries.

The views are stunning, no matter which way you look.

At the end of this hike, I looked back toward the trailhead and this was my view.

I'll be back to this trail to get all the way to the lake, and eventually the peak.