Sunrise Hill (Rainy Summit Overlook)

Elevation: 2118 m
Elevation Gain: 514 m
Sunrise Hill is an unofficial name for a popular southeast outlier of Powderface Ridge. The Hill’s open slopes grant an unobstructed view of the impressive Banded - Glasgow Group’s pyramidal east faces, which presumably, look splendid during sunrise. The Hill is also known as Rainy Summit Overlook since it rises just to the west of Rainy Summit (a roadside pullout near a high pass along Highway 66).
My Ascents:
May 26 2019
Trailhead: Powderface Trail South Winter Closure Gate

When fellow-dad/chemist/peak-bagger Roland sent a Friday afternoon email asking if I’d be interested in a kid-friendly hike on Sunday, I quickly replied in the affirmative. Having just returned from a kid-free (!) trip to Nashville, I figured that some quality mountain time with the littles was in order but was too tired to organize a trip myself. Roland’s invitation, therefore, appeared to offer the perfect solution: let him figure out what hike to do and tag along with Mera and Penny. Sadly, Roland immediately singled me out as the subject matter expert in the field and delegated the task of selecting a hike accordingly. With little time to research objectives, I took an easy out and suggested Sunrise Hill. Having hiked the hill many times prior, I knew it would satisfy the criterion of being kid-friendly while getting the dads out to the mountains. Sunrise Hill might not have been the most adventurous choice but wrangling our combined 5 kids up it without their moms promised to be adventure enough!

Excited to go hiking with "Daddy", Mera makes quick work of the steep, rocky and root-filled trail…for now.

Five minutes later, however, she was complaining that she was tired and wanted to go for “quiet time.” This cycle of hiking excitedly and then complaining and wanting to be carried repeated frequently as we followed the popular trail up through the forest. With Penny already on my back, I wasn’t keen to carry Mera so I made significant efforts to keep her entertained as we hiked. Those efforts were about 50% effective. One moment she’d be all-smiles and the next she’d sternly inform me that she was having “no fun at all.”

Catching the other kids as the hillside opens up about halfway to the top.

Roland provides a little assistance to one of his three little hikers. When Roland invited us out, I naively thought we might catch up a little. With a 1-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old along for the trip, however, adult conversation proved sparse!

Mera’s favorite part of hiking is getting high enough to find snow during the summer. I suppose this means that we’ll need to progress to much bigger objectives as the weather warms! Ironically, her interest in the summer snow vastly outpaces her ability to walk on it without face-planting. This snowy 200 m stretch through the woods ended up being the only section that I needed to carry both her and Penny across.

The top of Sunrise Hill comes into view. The final meadow’s several braided paths proved entertaining for Mera as she hopped from one to the next and back, even making some vertical progress (occasionally).

The “summit” push!

Queen of the castle (or cairn at least)! Another peak for mighty Mera and, impressively, ascended almost entirely on her own.

Summit selfie with Penny who proved easier to deal with for most of the day but still provided her share of challenges in the form of adding 27 lbs to my pack and filling her diaper for dad on the summit.

My "Baby Bear" enjoys some free range time out of the pack above the confluence of the Elbow and Little Elbow Rivers.

Mera hunts for summer snow near the summit. Looks like she might find some more over on Moose Mountain (left) and Prairie Mountain (right)!

Views south towards the Forgetmenot Ridge/Old Forgetmenot duo (left) and more the impressive trio of Bluerock Mountain (center), Threepoint Mountain (center right) and Mount Burns (right). In the foreground, a group of horses can faintly be seen ambling up another of Powderface’s eastern outliers: “Powder Puff.”

From left to right: Cougar Peak, Banded Peak, Outlaw Peak and Mount Glasgow highlight view beyond forested Powderface Ridge.

Capturing some summit smiles before starting the hike back down.

Motivated by the pack of Timbits® that I stashed in the car, Mera wasted little time as we started down!

Wild “Bear” sighting on descent…

A large distraction that was begging to be climbed (fortunately, Roland proved adept at rescuing the children that inevitably ended up stranded atop).

I’m usually in a hurry to get down but sometimes you need to stop to smell the flowers (especially if you’re hiking with a toddler)!

Did I say toddler? More like doddler… I understand that Mera can’t hike at an adult pace yet but, by the end, I swear we were going so slowly that we might have been going back uphill! Such is life when one needs to stop and examine every single rock, pine cone, footprint etc. Glacial though our pace may have been, we did eventually reach the promised Timbits® below! While no land-speed records were established on this day, I must say that I'm incredibly proud of my little girl for hiking all the way up and down. 514 vertical meters is a lot when you're only 96-cm-tall! Also, thanks to Roland for waiting to make sure that I survived my first Mom-less hike with both girls!

What goes up eventually crashes down HARD! Within 5 minutes of finishing, Mera crashed in the backseat. Once we got home, I discovered a Timbit® with a single, small bite missing in her hand!

Truth be told, I felt almost as bagged as she was. Hiking with toddlers is an adventure in and of itself!