Another beautiful day in the Central Cascades. Even though Mt Jefferson never quite came out, the hike up to the ridge took us through a burnout with views of Three Fingered Jack in the distance. There were some mosquitoes along the way, but the main event for them was when we got back to our car. They were swarming the parking lot. Better there than on the trail!
Horseshoe Meadow to Looking Glass Lake
It was a daring play: A subalpine hike as early as June that we didn't even start until 6pm. But this time, we lucked out. There wasn’t much snow and the longer day carried us to Horseshoe Meadow in time to build camp, cook dinner, and even make a fire before it was too dark to see. The mosquitoes were bad, but we were so glad to just get out after a few weeks without a hike that even a few bites couldn't dampen the mood.
The following morning, the mosquitoes were out in full force. We ate and packed up quickly, and finished the rest of the lollipop loop that took us by Looking Glass Lake, relying heavily on the GPS to find the unmaintained Graveyard Camp Trail that brought us back to the Pacific Crest Trail.
A note about this hike: we could not find a trail map anywhere, and only one of my many maps even had the Graveyard Camp Trail on it. If we hadn’t taken the time to map the whole thing out in advance, we would have had to turn around and backtrack. So, definitely sit with a few maps before doing this one!
Old Summit Trail #4014 to Three Fingered Jack
Our early-season hike to Canyon Creek Meadows was saved from disappointment by another hiker who warned us that the trail was still under snow. He suggested another trail, so we hiked out through a sea of wild huckleberry bushes and burned out trees until the trail took a dip into a valley that we didn't feel like climbing out of. While the others waited patiently, Jo and I scrambled up a ridge to get above the trees for an unobstructed view of Three Fingered Jack. We noticed bear scat and a lot of fresh tracks and I kept hoping for a sighting. No such luck this time. Our friends did find a couple of ticks on their pants back at the trailhead, but I would have much preferred a black bear.