It was cold, dark and early in the morning when Virginia and I pulled into the Burrows trailhead parking lot at 6am for the BKL Sunrise hike up Camel’s Hump. Carl Priganc, his father Dave, Carly Trapeni and her parents Carolyn and Chris were already there. The parents were donning their headlamps and packs and the kids- well, the kids all looked a little sleepy. “Did Carl fall asleep?” asked someone in the dark. “No, I’m here!” replied Carl as he burst across the parking lot. I laced up my boots, we rustled Carly and Virginia out of the cars, and we hit the trail.

Up through the dark we went, a string of twinkling headlamp lights. Every now and then someone would recognize something:  “There’s the bench tree” or “This is halfway rock!”  Things look different in the dark and it was hard for me to look at anything but the section of rocky trail ahead lit up by my headlamp. The time passed quickly with conversation and after about an hour, the sky began to brighten. We picked up our pace, anxious to get to the summit in time to see the sunrise. You can’t hike as fast in the dark, but now that it was getting lighter we could pick up the pace. We reached the clearing below the summit, grouped up, and then motored up the trail for the last 0.3 miles.

Finally, we emerged from the last bit of scrumholz to the stoney summit for a breathtaking view to the east. The sun had fully emerged and was casting a golden glow on the cloudy sky. Every plant on the summit and some of the rocks as well were covered with feathers of ice built into the wind- rime ice. It was a beautiful sight!

We found a place out of the wind and hunkered down for muffins and thermoses of tea, coffee and hot cocoa. Although we all donned all the clothing we brought, the wind made it feel cold, so breakfast was quick and we soon headed down the mountain. It was a leisurely trip down and we all warmed up on the way.

What a fun hike to do! Thanks to the Trapeni’s for the idea and thanks to Chris for taking the photos!