I had no hiking companion available yesterday, but I was determined not to waste such a gorgeous 4th of July. I wanted a hike with views so I could take advantage of the clear skies, but I also wanted to see wildflowers. So I settled on Observation Peak, in the Trapper Creek Wilderness. I was not disappointed: I got my fill of both wildflowers and views!
The first bit of trail had quite a bit of bunchberry blooming along it.
That quickly disappeared and the next section of trail had hundreds and hundreds of glacier lilies. Beautiful!
After 1.1 miles, across from the trail to Sister Rocks, I checked out the boulder viewpoint, which has great views of Mt. Rainier….
…and Mt. Adams.
After this point, the trail descends, which means you have to climb back up it on the way out! It was also at this point that I encountered swarms of mosquitoes. This I was not expecting! I put on my headnet, and put on bug spray, which seemed barely to deter them. So I just kept moving and swatting, moving and swatting.
At the junction with the Big Hollow trail is a little campsite with a sign that says Berry Camp. Cute! I can only assume this name comes from the fact that there are lots of huckleberries along this trail. But not now, of course. Give it six weeks. Yum!
Just before the summit I could see the beargrass blooming in abundance on the slope above me. Hooray! I love bear grass! There was quite a lot of it blooming up there and it is at its peak.
As if that weren’t enough, the views are tremendous! Good ol’ familiar Mt. Hood to the south. To the east and north Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens. A huge swath of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and of course the Trapper Creek Wilderness, lay before me. Green trees and blue skies and white snowy mountains. Glorious!
Mt. St. Helens…
Mt. Rainier…
Mt. Adams…
Mt. Hood…
Lots of beargrass!
Unfortunately, the bug situation was so bad that I couldn’t linger at the summit to enjoy the views. After 10 minutes of view enjoyment and pictures, I had to start heading down, eating my lunch as I hiked. I hate doing this, but I was hungry, and standing still for even a few moments to eat meant being swarmed by bugs.
On the way down I explored the side trail to the “secondary summit” that Sullivan describes in his book. It climbs up a little ridge and has views of the three Washington volcanoes, pretty much the same view as the summit had.
I had encountered no one along the trail on the way up. On the way back down I encountered a group of about half a dozen people, a couple who looked woefully under-prepared for the sunny buggy day, two backpackers, and a lone man. Every one of them told me they envied my mosquito headnet. I was once in the position of envier and after some particularly bad mosquito hikes a few years ago I went out and spent $5 of the net at Joe’s and it was the best $5 I ever spent!
The hike out was uneventful. I sped down the mountain, glad for the shade of the forest on such a hot day. My car was sitting in direct sun and it was hotter than hades inside. I stopped at Government Mineral Springs on the way home, just because I had never been there before. I took a quick sip of the water. Blech!
I think I have about 100 bites on my arms and legs. It’s like having chicken pox again. But it was still a great hike.
