This morning Clarissa joined Gabby, Scott & me on the Dege Peak Trail that starts at Sunrise on Mt. Rainier. I am so glad we got to go back to Sunrise and get in another hike! Since it's at 6400 feet, this side of Mt. Rainier is only open about 3 months out of the year due to weather conditions so I always feel a little special getting to go. It was super sunny, clear and cool and we had wonderful views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker and Mt. Adams! The hike itself is 4 miles roundtrip and gains about 600 feet of elevation; the peak of Dege is a little over 7000 feet. A little bit of history: Dege Peak was named in 1932 for James Henry Dege, a prominent Tacoma businessman and Captain of the First Regiment National Guard of Washington state. We saw lots of beautiful wildflowers and chipmunks. It was a fairly busy trail but not as bad as Sourdough Ridge which goes in the opposite direction. The last .3 miles is a fairly steep but short push to the top that affords panoramic views. I'm sure my legs will be super sore tomorrow, but I'm glad I pushed myself to the top! What a day!
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| A little daunting from the start as you realize you're going to have to go up! |
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| It's actually a little bit of a hike up to the start of the trail. |
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| From here we went to the right. 1.6 miles to the peak! |
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| This is right after we turned right. The other people are heading up to Sourdough Ridge. |
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| Gabby cut me out of the picture..that's my arm! |
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| I was nervous she got so close to the edge! |
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| That's Dege Peak! |
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| The start of the final push! |
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| I couldn't stop taking photos of Rainier...it was just too beautiful! |
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| They waited for me at the top. It took me a while to get there! |
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| One last photo... |
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