Celebrated my 35th birthday with a morning hike:

The peak on a cloudy morning

The day started early; the alarm clock rang at 4:30 am.  You see our goal was to hike the "Chief" with enough time to reach the peak and watch the sun rise.  With sunrise being at 6:30 am we decided to start the hike around 5:30.  That gave us approximately one hour to reach the peak.  We woke up had a quick breakfast, packed our bags with a snack, water and some fresh coffee.  

A little disoriented at 5:30 am

We arrived at the bottom a little bit off our planned time.  We were motivated to make the peak before sunrise.  The trail was pitch black but Kelly brought her headlamp.  Without the added light this would have not been possible. "Nice work babe!"

Off we went to start our birthday hike.

The trail was a bit wet and very slippery so we started out with a cautious pace.  Also the trail had a few added stairs and new switchbacks.  In the dark these added features kept us guessing on our progress.  We kept saying over and over "Hey, this is new".

Almost at the peak 6:20 am

Near the top, the trees opened up and daylight started to break through which allowed us to traveled quicker.  After 40 minutes from the trail head, we closed in on the peak. 

Sipping on coffee at the top

 At the peak we enjoyed a hot coffee, a snack and a cloudy sunrise. 

This was the best way to start my birthday.