Albert, Hillary, and I decided to do a sunrise hike up Mt. Pilchuck to the lookout tower and planned it the night before realizing that we would have to leave Seattle around 1 am in order to make it up to the peak by 5 am (sunrise). It took us around 2 hours to drive to Mt. Pilchuck and we started the hike around 3 am. To be honest, it was an arduous hike with an elevation gain of 2200 feet for around 2.6 miles one way, but the views were spectacular and well worth the amount of energy it took to get up to the top.
Since we started the hike at 3 am, before sunrise, we had to walk most of the trail in the dark while carrying flashlights. By the time we got close to the peak, the "blue hour" was well under way and we didn't need the flashlights anymore. It turns out that a couple parties of people had stayed the night in the lookout tower since sunset the previous day (great idea! and something I plan to do in the future)
We hung out at the lookout tower for a couple hours and grabbed some photos as the sun rose and illuminated the sky. (Note: it was pretty windy, so I would advise hand warmers, jackets, and blankets) There was a moment where a fellow vlogger was out on a different peak and the wind picked up some of the snow from the mountainside and wafted it over him and the ridge he was standing on in an arc making it look like he had a force field.
I highly recommend this hike. It's my favorite so far!
Here's the vlog video to go along with the hike! Let me know what you think and subscribe if you want to see more!