🏔️ Trip Report: The Solitude of Skyscraper Mountain

Solitude is necessary; finding solitude in a national park is a curse.

I knew I wanted my first post in this notebook/journal/blog to be about hiking (my favorite hobby) and Mount Rainier (my favorite place). I can’t think of a better way to introduce myself than writing about something that I love.

I’m not alone in loving our fourth national park. Every year, more people cram the parking lots, jam the trails, and slam the visitor centers. When I was a kid, casually driving up and finding a campsite at Cougar Rock was a breeze. These days, people lock-in reservations months in advance.

I don’t love crowds, and I believe that we may be overwhelming Washington’s crown jewel. That being said, I don’t think that it is impossible to find yourself alone in a park like Mount Rainier.

Today is a good example. It has been stormy in the Seattle area last night, but I hadn’t been able to get to the Mountain since the end of June, so I was pretty well committed.

With my favorite place in the park (Mowich Lake) closed for years, I decided upon Sunrise. The visitor center sits at 6,400 feet, but even being over a mile up doesn’t keep the crowds away. It is the closest, easiest-to-reach visitor center to Seattle. The trails near the parking lots can feel more like a highway than a path to nature.

There are many great destinations from Sunrise, but they aren’t hidden. Signage, helpful rangers, word-of-mouth, and amazing websites all help overload the most popular spots.

The helpful signs point out Mount Fremont or Burroughs Mountain. Sometimes, if you ignore the signs, you can wind up somewhere the family in the rented minivan might not find. That was today’s journey.

Skyscraper Mountain is about as far as other hikes from Sunrise, and about as challenging, yet only gets a fraction of the visitation. It isn’t a named destination.

What did I get by avoiding one of the big spots from Sunrise? Some quiet to contemplate myself and my place in existence. What nature reveals to us. A chance to write in my notebook. Seeing a herd of goats, which might not have stuck around for the descending hordes on Fremont. A mountain to myself. Peace.

Sometimes, crowds are fun. They usually seek out things that are worth seeing or doing. Yet if you cannot find a way to get away from them, it is easy to feel lost.

For more information, the Washington Trails Association’s page for Skyscraper Mountain is very helpful.

I welcome your feedback. Please drop me a line.