Elevation Gain: Approximately 3500 ft.
Time: 11:45 am - 5:15 pm
Weather: Mostly cloudy, turning overcast, then a light drizzle.
It's summer. I start school in 13 days. I need to be hiking for the next 13 days, but I only have a few days that aren't already scheduled with back to school work. Today was one of those few days that wasn't booked with schoolwork.
A friend of mine and I took off for the trailhead at 9:30 am. We were in the parking lot by 11:40. I got ready, and we were walking by 11:45. I brought only a day-pack for two reasons. First, we started later, and my pace is slowed with a 35~40 lbs pack. Second, I am going on an over-nighter this Saturday, so I think that can be my training hike. Today was bonus hiking, the best kind of hiking.
The trail is a climb. I tried using my cell phone's GPS tracking to get all the information from my hike, but weird readings and a low battery left a pretty poor assessment of our distance and location. We kept a consistent pace, breaking only to shed a layer or snap a quick photo for the first hour.
By this time we had been climbing through consistent forest but had reached Shelter Rock Camp. We kept moving up and starting hitting open areas on the trail. They were not very large at first but did contain beautiful wildflowers. Walking up, we started hitting more and more meadows. They also were growing in size and spectrum of colors. It was here that we really started to loose time as I took lots of up close photos of the flowers.
Taking time to enjoy the meadows had us up to the pass by 2:15 pm. Not a very fast pace, but not too terrible either considering we enjoyed the meadows, some small windows of blue sky, and the fellowship of passing hikers. My buddy found a great spot to enjoy the views of some peaks to the west of the pass. We ate and shared snacks. I offered some sour patch kids to passing hikers, who were fellow teachers on Bainbridge Island. I enjoyed meeting these nice people, and it turned out the history teacher knows a colleague of mine. There was a brief view of the Straight of Juan De Fuca to the north between the clouds and the mountains.
A few more minutes passed, and we started getting cold. We turned around, and visibility had dropped considerably as the clouds were coming in from the east. We hiked down with only one or two breaks, and these for for layers, hikers, or photos. My friend and I had great conversations. We even enjoyed a lot of super-tart, way-too-early-season huckleberries and blueberries.
Orchid: The wildflowers.
Onion: I don't have one.
Picture:
Google Map
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