Photo by Arun Rohila, used with permission*
Recently, my sister and I headed to Mt. Rainier to catch the meteor shower…apparently 9 million other people had the same idea. We arrived at Sunrise about 11:30 in the evening to find a full parking lot and a multitude of people…Loud talkers, headlights, flashlights, bright phones, strobe flashes, diesel trucks running “to keep warm” (the temperature was near 60 degrees), car doors slamming, dogs barking. I walked up Sourdough Ridge, trying to find some peace and quiet, and it was worse up there. I was amazed at how many people were afraid to just trust their eyes and follow their feet. I felt like there was a traveling carnival at my sacred place. I have been at Sunrise when my car was literally the only one in the parking lot. Granted, it was 18 degrees and there was swirling dry ice, but it was magical. After three hours of too much humanity and fewer than hoped for shooting stars, we cashed it in. The best part was tracking the headlamps of the climbers coming through Cadaver Gap and ascending from Camp Schurman, slowly inching their way to the summit…a parade of tiny lights slowly marching on toward a life-long dream. As I watched, I prayed that the lights would stay in a straight, steady line, and that they were watching their foot placement, not looking down on us in the parking lot and wondering, “Just how far away does a person have to go to feel alone in nature?”
This is a modified version of a post to Facebook on August 13, 2016
*To see more incredible work by this talented photographer, go to www.arunrohilaphotography.com, or on his Facebook page, go to “Shop Now”
2 Comments
Nice story. I was thinking the same thing when I was taking the photograph. There were probably 10 of us all lined up along the trail, taking the same exact picture and wondering whose woukd be neuter better. But also wishing it was just me.
No such luck! I see my comments section on the website is not working correctly. I will have to fix that. Thanks for the use of your awesome picture. I will keep my out for you, maybe we’ll run into each other sometime at Sunrise. Keep up the good work!