My Everyday Photos

Kim and I hiked up to the top of Tiffany Mountain and then around it, crossing Whistler and Honeymoon Pass and then around Tiffany Lake before leaving the trail at Tiffany Springs Campground where we had left my car in the morning. Ken had generously shuttled us from there to the Freezeout Pass trailhead before going fly fishing. The temperature was comfortably cool most of the day; clouds built up with the threat of thunder storms. Luckily the storms did not materialize.

Most of this area was burned in the 2006 Tripod wildfire. Many people would look at this now and see nothing but dead trees. However the grasses and forbs and shrubs are thriving. Wildflowers are abundant and vibrant this month. In wetter areas we found young aspens and willows – perfect habitat for moose and other animals.

The trail begins by climbing steeply up from Freezeout. Fireweed blooms in the understory

Ken started up the trail with us

The first glimpse of Tiffany Mountain from the trail

It’s a gorgeous route through the flowers

Red paintbrush

A dried up puffball

More gorgeous meandering

The view from the top. Tiffany Lake and Little Tiffany Lake

Looking down at Salmon Creek. Later we walked up that valley to get to Honeymoon Pass.

And looking down towards Winthrop

Fabulous delicate rock gardens on top of 8200′ Tiffany Mountain

Walking through another field of wildflowers

We saw lots of these butterflies

Cool rock formations

Whistler Basin after we crossed Whistler Pass

Geum sp

These were common on the east side of the mountain and nowhere else.

The trail goes sidehill on the east side before dropping into Salmon Creek

Oh yeah, I liked these.

Geum sp

Geum sp

Geum sp

You can see Honeymoon Pass in the distance

In the creek bottom, it seemed like we went a long time in the wrong direction but finally after crossing the creek, we found the burned sign that said we were headed towards Tiffany Lake.

Can you see the trail through all that lush undergrowth? There are orange diamonds on the snags, marking the way. Sometimes those snags fall.

Woodpecker holes

Looking back UP at Tiffany Mountain where had been just an hour or so before.

Almost to Honeymoon Pass, looking down Salmon Creek

Columbine

A glimpse of Tiffany Lake on the other side of Honeymoon Pass

The end of the trail