Sunrise from Mount Sniktau

I didn't sleep well last night. Well, I slept well, but I was wide awake around half past three and decided to go out instead of trying to fall back asleep. So I gobbled a sandwich and left the house just before 4am. I headed towards Loveland Pass and hoped to make it in time for sunrise. When an hour later I started on my way up to the mountain ridge, it was still pitch dark with the sky just beginning to lighten up... Half an hour later, as I walked along the ridge, I enjoyed the first signs that the sun was about to rise above the mountains...

 

But on the west side, everything was still dark and dim. No color, and I could barely make out the Continental Divide and Eisenhower Tunnel down below..

I turned left towards Mount Sniktau and followed the trail. A few minutes later, I looked back at the west side and everything looked different now. The first rays of sunlight colored the clouds and added some brightness to the surroundings.

It took a few more minutes for the sun to finally rise over the mountain range... And it was an absolutely magnificent sunrise!

No more flaming clouds in the western sky... but everything was brightening very quickly, and views were changing with astonishing speed...

The sun was slowly rising, and I was following the trail leading to Mount Sniktau...

The rising sun was now lighting the slope behind me with a wonderful golden hue. Everything looked simply unreal (as it often does a few minutes after sunrise).

I saw some movement on the slope behind and when I zoomed in, I spotted a small family of mountain goats slowly crossing the slope. Nice company!

It wasn't just the goats that were up and looking for breakfast. I also met some pikas ;)

The last stretch before I found myself on top of Mount Sniktau.

I spent some time sitting on top of the world and looking around...

Finally I turned around and started the descent. I had a really good view of the trail that had brought me here. And it continued further to Cupid and Grizzly peaks, but they weren't on my agenda for today... But if you're curious about what the mountains look like when you're climbing these two peaks, click here - Grizzly Peak hike. I met another hiker climbing the steep trail to the summit... People woke up and were coming ;)

On the way back I enjoyed the blooming alpine flowers and the pikas that crossed the trail every few minutes :)

I was no longer alone. I met a few other hikers who had started later than me. As I turned around to take one last look at the peak behind me, I saw the hiker I had met first, just starting his descent...

By the way... can you spot the hiker from the previous photo? Hint... look at the top of Mount Sniktau on the left :)

Soon I passed the last pika, some more flowers and found myself at the parking lot... I had an amazing experience climbing a steep slope in complete darkness and enjoying a colorful and vibrant sunrise at the top of the mountain... What more could you want on a Sunday morning?

Almost 3 hours and almost 4 miles. 1600 feet of elevation gain. Yes, it is not an easy hike. The slope is very steep at the beginning, but the reward for this climb is the amazing views from the top. The altitude of 13,000 feet is a good opportunity to take in the surroundings, and although there are higher peaks, most of the views are at your feet as you walk along the narrow trail between the peaks. Hm... sometimes you have no views at all (as it happened to me a while back - click here to check it out - Wandering in the fog...).

Click here to see the trail on Google Maps

The pictures were taken on August 04, 2024.