{"id":1633,"date":"2014-09-04T18:44:25","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T01:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peachylife.net\/blog\/?p=1633"},"modified":"2020-09-03T16:30:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T16:30:03","slug":"scott-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2014\/09\/04\/scott-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday my plans called for a hike up Scott Mountain in the Mt. Washington Wilderness. The weather didn’t look very promising but I crossed my fingers and hoped the clouds would burn off.<\/p>\n

On the way to the trailhead I stopped at the Dee Wright Observatory for a view. Nope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was a balmy 45 degrees when I arrived at the Scott Lake trailhead at 9:20am. My normal trailhead routine involves bare arms and sunscreen but today it involved putting on a long-sleeved shirt and my down jacket. When I was planning my weekend I had originally considered camping at the small campground there (elevation 4,800 feet) and was glad I decided against it. Bet it was pretty cold the previous night! The mountains were not visible and I hoped the clouds would burn off before I reached the summit of Scott Mountain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The trail heads off through the forest where I saw A WHOLE LOT of dead beargrass stalks. Looks like it was a fabulous beargrass year here!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After 1.5mi is Benson Lake, which is pretty big. It was very calm and quiet when I stopped. I rested here for awhile with my book, killing time and giving the clouds time to burn off.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you scramble around the shore a bit you can see down on the lake and see Scott Mountain nearby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This area is dotted with all manner of ponds and lakes. I bet the mosquitoes are horrid in July.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After 2.5mi there’s a side trail to a group of lakes called Tenas Lakes. What a pleasant surprise that spot was! The lakes were quite pretty, with these rocky cliffy shorelines that reminded me a bit of the Lakes Basin in Eagle Cap Wilderness (without the soaring mountain backdrop). I saw one couple camped here, but no one else.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Onwards through the forest and up to Scott Mountain. The summit is open and meadowy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There was once a weird-looking fire lookout here (never seen this style before).<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All that’s left is parts of the foundation and some other bits and pieces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Looking east from the summit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Behold the magnificent view of the Three Sisters! (or not)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Totally disgusted with the uncooperative weather, I got out my book and waited to see if the clouds would burn off, even though it was pretty chilly on the summit. It took awhile, but I finally got to see evidence of the Three Sisters before heading down.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I could go back the way I came for an 8.2mi hike or loop back for a longer 9.7mi hike. I opted for the loop, heading downhill on the Scotty Way Trail (chuckling “beam me up, Scotty!” as I went). The berry-picking along here was fabulous so my progress was slow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not sure which fire this was, but it looks like it was in the last few years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I picked up the Hand Lake Trail and walked along the edge of the lava for awhile.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hand Lake was all dried up, to my surprise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For comparison, here is what it looked like on August 30, 2008. The only commonality here are the view-obscuring clouds!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After Hand Lake there are a few snowmelt ponds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then I was back at Scott Lake by 4:15, where the mountains were FINALLY making an appearance! About time!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During the cold, quiet, sleepy morning I had thought that Scott Lake looked like a nice place to camp. But in the sunny afternoon I changed my mind. There were people and canoes and kayaks everywhere. I think this place would be best on a weeknight.<\/p>\n

On the way back to Cold Springs CG I stopped for a mountain view from Highway 242:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Also made a brief stop at Dee Wright Observatory, where it was cold, windy, and VERY CROWDED.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back at the campground I ate dinner and hung out until dark. Then I headed back up to the pass for some star photography. Unfortunately a gigantic cloud was parked right above the pass, blocking out the mountains and the stars. So I went back a few miles to a place called Windy Point, which was living up to its name that night. Managed to get a few photos before I couldn’t take the bone-chilling wind anymore.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was so happy to crawl into my warm sleeping bag back at camp, feeling very tuckered out after a long full day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday my plans called for a hike up Scott Mountain in the Mt. Washington Wilderness. The weather didn’t look<\/p>\n

Continue readingScott Mountain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}