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Tag Archives: Harts Pass

Willow and I did a volunteer stint in the mountains last week. Our time there was cut short by evacuation orders concerning a fire in the wilderness to the north of there. The fire people are concerned that it will expand to the south and west, endangering hikers and others. It was hard to leave under those circumstances.

We did enjoy good weather, blue, smoke-free skies and wildflowers. We did not enjoy the flies and mosquitoes! Lots of interesting hikers came through and a French man doing the Fastest Known Time on the Pacific Crest Trail. It is over 2600 miles and he did it in 45 days! That’s 60 miles per day, on average, for 45 days. Can you even imagine? Search on FKT, Fastest Known Time, for more information. He had quite a support crew including a content creator and a French journalist.

But mostly it was quiet and beautiful. We did go up to Slate Peak to see the collapsed lookout. It was very sad. I found a Dark-eyed Junco nest within two inches of one of the trails.

Despite wet, windy conditions, the girls and I managed to get out most days for some sort of walk, hike, ramble amid the beautiful trees, rocks, meadows of the north cascades. The colors were saturated and the air was fresh and clean. My favorite time of year.

What’s it like to stand on the edge of a rocky outcropping waiting for sunrise on a cold September morning? Is it worth it? Were the dogs bored? I love the way the warmth of the sun spreads across the mountains, bathing them in its light leaving behind the blue hour of dawn.

The girls and I drove up the bumpety bump Harts Pass road yesterday and enjoyed a brief respite from the intense heat dome that has kept our afternoon and evening temperatures above 100° F. Sixty degrees at 7000′ was incredibly refreshing. On the way up, we saw mountain goats at their traditional salt lick. They are pretty shaggy looking this time of year.

We met some people walking up the road to the lookout with skis. They were planning to ski down the backside of the mountain! The snow fields are pretty small already so it was a short run.

The mountain views were incredible and the flowers were just lovely. The snow recently melted up there so the wildflower peak is yet to come.

We did this hike a month or so ago with Molly and Mary. It’s fun to see the changes during the season. There was less water and different wildflowers and it maybe wasn’t as green but it was still beautiful. Rozie and Kim joined us this week.