Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Year of Fire and Ice

I've made it to Snoqualmie Pass, mile 2390.6. Unfortunately, making it here did involve getting around yet another fire closure. The closure was from Chinook Pass to 23 miles north. Even the road, highway 410, was closed east of the pass. Luckily one of the people I've been hiking with, Comma, contacted their cousin and was able to get us a perfect ride around the closure. The added logistics of getting around all of these fires has gotten pretty old, hopefully there are no more. The fire does make for dramatic photos though...


Despite the fire, the trail has been great for this section. There is definitely more elevation change as I get further north but the views that accompany the climbs are worth it. For a few days the views included Rainier, which was incredible. I've always found solitary mountains more impressive than large ranges. Washington has been great at providing those, first with Mt. Adams and then with Mt. Rainier. After having so much fun in the snow of the Sierras both of those mountains look like fun mountains to come back and do at some point.




The last couple days has seen yet another heat wave hit the area I'm hiking through. It is unseasonably hot and dry, making fires that much worse. The wind shifted a day ago and all the lovely views disappeared in a smelly smoke cloud. Once again, I cannot see anything and everything smells like campfire. This morning my tent even had a thin layer of ash covering it. The following photos look cloudy or foggy, it is just smoke in the air.




Here is a little video to show a bit of what the trail looks like around here.

1 comment:

  1. Love the video! And, I vote for continuing to avoid the fires. :-)
    Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete