After spending the winter playing through every Super Nintendo game I owned, I badly needed a camping trip to rinse off my basement dweller sweat. And if there's one thing I learned from blowing up Planet Zebes and saving the Mushroom Kingdom for the Xth time, it's that even the vague idea of a mission can keep you focused long enough to do stuff you normally would not.
“Sunrise hunting” was just such a mission. We’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn, boil up some coffee, and hike up a big hill for a chance to see the sunrise from the eastern edge of the Duck Mountains. I had a road in mind that my dad took me down when I was a kid. I remember biking through what I assumed was endless boreal forest, turning a corner and being caught by surprise that we were actually on the edge of a height of land, the surrounding plains visible in the far off distance. It was the first time I ever somewhat understood why the word “mountain” was in Duck Mountain. From that place, the road weaved up and down the hills, almost appearing to trail off into the sky. I thought it would be cool to shoot a time-lapse video of the sun rising from exactly that point.
Sean was the first to be on board. His camera would be vital to shooting the time lapse since my camera lacked that function. Sean was soon followed by Mitch, another camera fiend. Mitch was then followed by the rest of our idiot brigade. There were eventually eight people “enlisted” on our mission. Being the first trip of the season, I suppose we were all just excited to do something outside.
The weather was on our side as the temperature approached 20ºC on the afternoon of our arrival. After locking the cars and gearing up, we started our march down the closed back road.
We decided to set up camp in an empty river bed that was soon be flooded under coursing melt water. The openness of our spot gave us a little extra sunlight to work with, but left us vulnerable to the wind. I realized this only when a storm picked up in less than a minute, flipping my tent, wetting my gear, and reminding me again that nature calls the shots.
Clouds filled the sky and remained there into nightfall.
Without clear skies, there was no hope in shooting the sunrise and no point in waking up at the crack-of-dawn, which was roughly 4am if we were to have enough time to hike and get set up. We decided to abandon the mission and simply enjoy the camp instead.
Some time after midnight, Sean and I stepped away from the campfire and were surprised to find a clear sky covered in stars.
The mission was back on. I slept for one frigid hour before waking up at 4 am and strapping on my hiking boots. Sean, Mitch and Kyle joined me on the long march up to the peak of the hill. Sean was able to set up his camera by 5:30 AM without much time to spare.
All we had left to do was get a fire going for some coffee, sit back and watch the sunrise.