George Gerdts, Jaime Acker, Alan Roedel, Nancy Hunn and I spent the night at
Sunrise (Nancy and I headed home about 2:30, the rest stayed for the
sunrise). It was an absolutely beautiful night. Still. Three-quarters moon
flooding the meadows and tracing the mountain. Mars in Sagittarius setting
behind Little Tahoma, then Saturn rising in Taurus, Jupiter in Gemini, and
finally Venus. The Andromeda galaxy was 2 million light years straight over
head. Shooting stars out of Perseus. The Mariners won.

We heard (songs, skew calls, whistles; at least 4, probably more) and saw
three NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS and heard for sure (we think) just one BOREAL
giving an emphatic skew call, all between just south of the parking lot at
the lodge and along the loop road/trail into the walk-in camping area. We
hiked the entire loop (3 miles) twice. We did not expect to find Saw-whets
at that elevation, but there were lots of them there. So, be forewarned.

Gene Hunn
enhunn at home.com