Above the Clouds at Poo Poo Point

Wintertime around here can be a bit of a mixed bag. Unless you want to get into the snow, not a ton of trails are accessible. I normally don’t mind getting into the snow, but sometimes it’s nice to just have your feet on solid ground and get a bit of a workout in. So, I found myself driving down to Poo Poo Point back in January with the intent of doing just that. Despite the name, Poo Poo Point has nothing to do with #2. Instead, the name comes from the “poo poo” of the old stream train whistles that could be heard in the area when coal and logging was in its heyday. Nowadays, there isn’t much of either, although there is a rather gross outhouse at the top of Poo Poo Point, so maybe the steam train myth is just a myth?

Anyway, Poo Poo Point from the Chirico Trail is a nice workout with a steep (but not too steep) trail, and some great views of the area from the top. Both Poo Poo Point itself and Chirico Point (just below Poo Poo) have big, open spaces with views for miles. These areas are used by paragliders in the area, and it’s fun to watch them launch from here. On the day I went though, I had something else in mind - thanks to a weather inversion, there was a thick layer of clouds at the bottom, but I was betting that Poo Poo would be above the clouds, so I thought a sunset hike would be nice. Apparently everyone else in Seattle did too, so after circling the block for about 30 minutes to try to find a parking spot, one opened up, and I started hoofing it up the hill.

I was racing the sunset, so I practically ran up the first part of the trail. After a while, I started to get peeks of blue sky above me, and I knew that I would be able to get above the clouds. But, as I climbed, I noticed that the fog was thinning and the sun was peeking through the trees, making for some incredible foggy forest scenes. Combined with the warmth of the setting sun and clouds milling about, I was able to get some amazingly moody shots!

I had to restrain myself from shooting more of these scenes as I hiked, as the sunset wasn’t going to wait for me! Eventually I picked up the pace and cleared the fog, and made it the rest of the way to the top. I popped out at Chirico Point, which is a south-facing clearcut just below Poo Poo Point. I think this area has a much better view than Poo Poo, and the main reason for that is that you have a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier. And so, there I sat, enjoying the sunset and popping up a couple hundred photos of the beautiful view. I was really fortunate in that some clouds on the western horizon made the sunlight quite a bit warmer, which really amped up the color that day.

If you look closely at that last image, you can see a tiny plane flying high above the clouds after departing from Seatac. I like to think that the people on the planes I saw were enjoying the view as much as I was!

I was very thankful I managed to get to Chirico Point when I did. Not long after the sun went down, the clouds started to lift as there was still some color left in the sky. I liked the scene here better with the clouds, so I decided to walk up to Poo Poo Point to see what the view was like. From there, you have a better view of the city, and I indeed had that, but it wasn’t anything like the view of Rainier back at Chirico. I also noticed that I was alone - everyone that was jamming up the parking lot earlier and was enjoying the sunset had already left long before I did. I thought about staying for stars, but decided to come back another day for that, and enjoyed a very peaceful walk out in the dark alone!