{"id":4691,"date":"2023-06-02T18:15:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T18:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2023-06-06T00:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T00:24:43","slug":"soda-mountain-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2023\/06\/02\/soda-mountain-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Soda Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday, May 28, 2023<\/p>\n<p>On our second day of Memorial Day Weekend hiking we re-visited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonhikers.org\/field_guide\/Soda_Mountain_Loop_Hike\">Soda Mountain<\/a>, which we <a href=\"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2017\/07\/06\/soda-mountain\/\">first hiked<\/a> in July 2017.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The clouds were thick and low as we drove to the trailhead, with not a patch of blue sky to be seen. We got above the clouds for the most part by the time we parked, and we started seeing sun:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52938597617_024faa9331_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We headed south on the PCT and got some views as we passed beneath powerlines:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940593456_d51833eba4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Entering the Soda Mountain Wilderness:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939339124_406d1d2e9b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We crossed this meadow where we saw a lot of wildflowers in bloom six years ago:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52941054668_37b51dd94f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This time we were too early for most of the wildflowers, but we still saw some. Phlox:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52938604617_d6be505fef_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Balsamroot:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52938608557_08258ecddf_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939593295_728d3309c5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940739819_0b6edb3b71_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mt. Ashland is out there hiding in the clouds:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52941052853_926c9c2b9e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back in the forest we saw some trillium:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939792442_37808e27bc_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940927693_8cae89a0ed_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940927473_9b48518997_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From this clearing we could see Soda Mountain ahead, with a communications tower poking up above the trees:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940542174_a3b93d0f90_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The forest understory wasn&#8217;t as green and lush as last time. Give it a few weeks:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940851568_34bb609223_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There was A LOT of waterleaf, although it wasn&#8217;t flowering yet:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940987250_9664278e1c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We reached the easy-to-miss junction and headed uphill:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940781260_85491860a4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We reached the lookout access road where we soon found a road sign that had fallen:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52941052603_4c7f3090c5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The last bit of the hike is up this road:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940857340_7a0b7fd6be_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were some puddles:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939990872_441c0864e6_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And some lingering patches of snow:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939990942_31f19e21eb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940738074_15525df21e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We reached the summit, which is crowded with communications equipment:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939989347_0d0e6487e6_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940967413_9aff4664b3_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were flowers in bloom up here including balsamroot:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940979695_8fb8780568_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And a whole bunch of phlox:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940506016_6812df8e94_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940651599_c06c635071_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939903987_bd4bdd4d3f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940649449_7c3cbccdd4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The lookout was all closed up and I noticed that it now had cameras for remote fire detection:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940977370_0c2e603da4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940978250_411e0b2018_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940892675_880656e6fd_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940586776_d804f88121_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The shutter over the door was not in place so I could see through the window. The interior bore no signs of a lookout that is still being staffed. No bed, no stove, no firefinder:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940978405_9aba28b06f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were a lot of clouds, so the views were only partial. View of Mt. Ashland:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940979655_5d46dc20e4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52941049253_5c5f01dc44_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mt. Shasta is out there somewhere:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940588096_d636efa0c6_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We sat and took a break. Our phones had a terrible signal up here. I guess none of these are cell phone towers:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940979725_a342986ce8_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>View of Pilot Rock on the way down:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940743804_b1929f54f4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52940986445_f741344538_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hiking on the PCT through the forest:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52939996367_f01ddf2ae8_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back in the first meadow we now had a view of Mt. Ashland that we couldn&#8217;t see before:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52941056578_680311f683_c.jpg\" alt=\"Soda Mountain Hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Gaia stats: 4.3 miles, 740 feet elevation gain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday, May 28, 2023 On our second day of Memorial Day Weekend hiking we re-visited Soda Mountain, which we first<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2023\/06\/02\/soda-mountain-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Soda Mountain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[185,250],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4710,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions\/4710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}