Panorama view from Dege Peak
We have taken three great hikes in the Mt. Rainier area in July and August. This has been a hot, dry summer requiring the selection of hiking days and places based on how comfortable we can hope to be. For instance, we visited the air-conditioned Museum of Flight on one day that was simply too hot to consider hiking outdoors.
We have been to Dege Peak three times now and both Glacier Basin and Sourdough Gap twice. This year we tried for wildflowers and saw plenty. The flowers at Glacier Basin and Sourdough Gap were different from each other but each took the prizes for the most splendid displays and varieties. I’m grouping these three hikes together since they are all in the Mt. Rainier area and putting up just a selection of some of the best flowers, animals and a couple of scenic views.
Goats near Dege Peak getting cool in the snow and dirt
It was a little warmer than we like for hiking the day we went to Dege Peak and there were bugs so we got some bites but the views were beautiful and the flowers outstanding. We saw mountain goats! We have seen goats near Frozen Lake on the trails to Mt. Fremont and Burroughs but never on the Dege side before. They were burrowing down in the snow or digging in the dirt to get cool. The goats were still there after we had lunch at the top and were heading back to the parking area by the lodge. That gave us the opportunity and pleasure of pointing them out to some folks who had never seen them before.
Western Anemone or mophead in flower
Transitioning to mophead
Mophead or seed stage of the Western Anemone
Aster
Magenta paintbrush
False Hellebore or corn lily flower
Jacob's ladder
Yellow lousewort
We generally don’t count people at Mt. Rainier because there are so many it ends up being over 100. The trails are in good condition and very popular. There are no dogs allowed on the Dege Peak trail. It is about 4 miles round trip with a 700 foot vertical gain with the last small section of the trail switch-backed and steep. There were lots of people but lots of space too. We even had the top spot to ourselves for lunch before a group of six arrived and shortly after them another couple. By then we were finished and ready to start back down. Flowers included acres of mopheads, the seed stage of the western anemone, with a couple in flower that had not yet turned to mophead; phlox, asters, yellow lousewort, corn lilies, paintbrush and others. The bonuses for the day besides the goats were Parnassus, Fritillary and White Pine butterflies.
Parnassus butterfly also called Mountain Apollo
[This is Bob's photo. The sun was so bright I couldn't tell what I was pointing at with the camera. All I got was the rock!]
Fritillary butterfly
White Pine butterfly
View from the trail on the way back to the parking area
The
parking area at Chinook Pass has trails going south to Naches Loop or
north to Sheep Lake and Sourdough Gap. The day we hiked to Sourdough
Gap via Sheep Lake it was cool and delightful. I had my jacket on most
of the day. This is about a 7 mile round trip with a vertical gain of
1100 ft. Not too many bugs and tons of flowers mostly corn lilies and
asters with accents of larkspur, tiger lily, monkey flower, elephant
head lousewort, paintbrush, fireweed, purple penstemon, spirea,
pussytoes, beargrass, mopheads, yarrow and more.
Sheep Lake--Sourdough Gap is the V between the hills
We were above the clouds most of the day and walking through the clouds for the rest of the day. This was taken from just below Sourdough Gap looking toward the invisible lake.
Fireweed along the trail
This trail is part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and we met 5 pairs of through hikers either coming from the south heading toward Canada or having started at the Canadian border and heading south toward Mexico. We counted that day and ended up with 59 hikers and 2 dogs. There are some camping spots near Sheep Lake and we saw at least one group that had set up a tent; however, there is no outhouse or backwoods toilet. Bonuses for the day, grouse unseen by our feet that we flushed when we walked by, a marmot, and golden-mantled ground squirrels.
Elephant head lousewort
Pink Wintergreen
Pink pussypaws
Pink aster
Orange paintbrush
Tiger lilies
Larkspur
Harebells or Blue Bells of Scotland
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
Glacier Basin is a stretch for me at about 6.5 miles round trip and 1650 ft vertical gain. There were bugs and we got bit. Since I carry the “free lunch” sign for bugs, I have a bug shirt and always wear a long sleeved t-shirt and/or my Gortex jacket, plus use plenty of herbal bug spray. It was warm but I didn’t dare uncover too much for fear of more insect bites. It is such a beautiful place; even if was a lot of work to get there it was worth it.
Trail sign
There was a little snow along the way but the trail was mostly clear
Penstemon
Monkey flower
Columbine
Glacier lily
Western Anemone
Glacier Basin
One of several frogs in the small pond
Shooting stars
Marsh marigolds
Bob has adjusted the Mountaineers difficulty scale to reflect our age and physical limitations so Glacier Basin and Sourdough Gap are both moderate hikes on our new scale. Glacier Basin had vast arrays of penstemon and monkey flowers. There were also columbine, shooting stars, sedum, marsh marigold, a few trillium still in bloom, western anemone in flower and glacier lilies. Bonuses for the day were frogs and tadpoles in the small lake and a golden-mantled ground squirrel that posed for a picture. We counted 44 mountain climbers heading for Camp Sherman on the north side of Mt. Rainier, and 24 hikers. No dogs allowed in the park. There are camping spaces at Glacier Basin and also a backwoods toilet.
No comments:
Post a Comment