Sunday, June 23, 2019
After our hike up Bachelor Mountain, we headed over to Coffin Mountain for the short 1.5 mile hike to its summit. The flowers started off pretty much immediately:
When the trail entered the forest we started seeing lots of beargrass:
Out of the trees and still more beargrass:
Then we emerged into the huge summit meadow. This year it was full of beargrass:
We traversed the summit and switchbacked up it, then into the trees and out the other side to our first view of the fire lookout, which was not yet staffed:
We made it!
We sat on the deck and enjoyed the view of Mt. Jefferson:
And the Three Sisters:
Looking to the other end of Coffin Mountain where the radio tower is:
We enjoyed some afternoon wine and cheese:
Hiking back down through beargrass heaven:
Getting here meant a five-hour round-trip drive from Portland, which is not something we normally do for day hikes. But it was completely worth it to see the beargrass, which is one of my favorite wildflowers. Great day!
