Heat wave!! Nothing to do but head for the mountains. Besides escaping the heat, I’ve new boots to field test, and flowers should be putting on a good show at elevation.
My new Salewa ‘Crow’ hiking boots are a dream. Truly. Thank you Barry for helping me get those. I’m in love.
I arrived at the PCT Potato Hill TH at 9:30ish, and set off by 9:45. The heat was moderate, but the sun bright, and the bugs hungry, a theme for the entirety of my hike. The PCT thru here is gentle, soft, and lovely, travelling thru thin pine forests over a pumice/sand tread, with ample stream crossing and springs along the way. A few fallen trees crossed the trail, but nothing big enough to be a concern. The trail tread is in great shape.
I headed left off the PCT when I got to the Muddy Meadows Trail, and made my up to Foggy Flat for a breather and a rest in the shade in front of the mountain. By late afternoon, I’d arrived at the river, only to find the campsite I had hoped for was still snowed in. I ended up selecting a site downstream of the trail, alongside the river, with a sunny campfire ring and a shady, sheltered spot for my tent. It even came with a snoopy and cute little pika that had very little fear of me.n
I’m not in shape this year, so I was wiped by the time I set up camp, so I settled in for dinner and to watch the sky and mountains. I had hopes that the aurora borealis would show up – geomagnetic storms had been occurring, and social media was full of pics. My site had a grand view to the south of Mt. Adams, and a peekaboo view thru the branches to the north of the Goat Rocks. Sublime! I kept my eye on the northern horizon, but never did see the northern lights. I may have been distracted by the impossibly large, soul-reducing grandeur of the Milky Way above me, stretching over Mt. Adams to the south to the peaks of the Goat Rocks to the north. There were even a few meteors here and there.
The second day, I hiked further up the river, bound for Devil’s Garden, but lost my energy in the sun and heat by the time I reached the last crossing. Somehow or another, I found myself naked in a meltwater pool in the moraine, and so totally refreshed, that I decided to stay for lunch.
I returned to camp, retreated to my mesh-tent for an afternoon snooze, and had a complete zero of an afternoon, which was nice. Dinner was fried rice by Moutain House. Entertainment was a rerun of the previous night’s performance. The northern lights never did show up.
Tuesday and time to head back down the mountain. I had no desire to leave, but running out of chai rather forced my hand. I had no problems with heat until I reached the PCT, where the temps had probably gotten into the mid-70’s. I tarried for a while at Lava Spring, to cool down, hydrate, and snack in the shade. By mid-afternoon, I was back to my truck. For some reason, the bugs had ceased to be an issues – until the TH, where they were back with a vengeance. I wasted no time in driving back down into the valley, and took a break at a shady campsite along the road to wash up. Even here, the heat was tolerable. By the time I got to Randle, tho, it was anything but.
Dinner was a fishwich from Huff-n-Puff. I waited entirely too long on the hot asphalt for my order, but with no AC in my truck, idling in a drive-thru further down the road was no option. The raspberry lemonade was divine.
Images taken July 24-26 in the Mt. Adams Wilderness, GPNF.
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