Early Morning near Park Butte

On October 28 the weather promised to be good and I left early in the morning for the two hour drive to the Park Butte trailhead where I hoped to hike not only that trail but the Railroad Grade trail which started at the same place. I arrived before 6:00 a.m. and it was still completely dark so I slept in the car while waiting for daylight, but it was raining hard and I nearly turned around and went home. To my delight, however, the rain stopped at daybreak and I was on the trail at 7:45 and took this photo a few minutes later.

Park Butte and Railroad Grade, the latter of which has nothing to do with any real railroad, share the same trail for a half mile before splitting. The Park Butte trail lead to an old fire lookout near the south face of Mount Baker and the Railroad Grade trail follows a glacial moraine up the side of Baker and is part of the climber's route for the south face. These are trails I've always wanted to do and it seemed like I had chosen a good day to do them, but that would change and then change again as I hiked.