I have a new holiday. June doesn't really have any good holidays, so now I will celebrate Solstice Day. So Happy Solstice to you all.
This year to celebrate, I climbed Flat Top Mountain with a couple of my friends. We started hiking in bright daylight, at 10:00pm. It was by far, the windiest conditions I had ever hiked in. In some places, I think it must have been blowing over 60 mph. My hands were very frozen all the way up and my checks felt like they were on fire. Part of our group decided to turn back early, and four of us continued to suffer up to the top. When I finally made it to the top, I knew why the wind was blowing so hard. There was a gigantic storm in the higher mountains to the west of us, and it was blowing rain all the way to us from more than 30 miles up the valley.
View of the sun starting to set from halfway up. 11:45 pm
At the top we joined a group of about 20 people just sitting around having a good time at the top. One said he planned to bring his trampoline up this year, but because of the wind, thought better of it. We sat a talked about our travels with the people, snapped some pictures, and decided it would be best if we headed down. It was about 45 deg and the wind was carrying rain from the storm, and I was the only one with a wind-proof jacket. Well my jacket is supposed to be wind proof, but it wasn't working quite as well as the name implies.
Me against the storm. The wind was blowing.
As we left, the people told us we had to wait just a little longer, until 12:15 am. When officially the sun goes below the horizon. We counted down from ten and then all screamed, "HAPPY SOLSTICE!" It was just like new years, except no kissing. After that we said our goodbyes, and everyone wished us a happy solstice. As we were going down, people were still coming up, and it was 12:30 am! Even though the sun was below the horizon, there was still plenty of light to see by, and I felt a little bit like a tourist because I was carrying a flashlight that I definitely didn't need. Although there was one guy that topped me in the tourist no-nos: one old man had a pick-ax for a mountain with no snow, and a pistol-grip shotgun in case he saw a bear. Nowhere else in America will you see people carrying shotguns on hikes within a city - or anywhere.
Wishing all in this picture a happy solstice, especially incredibly-loud-jacket-man (from Austria?) and Jeremy (in black with the beard)
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