The first few miles were still recovering from a fire, and it was a little spooky and VERY hot hiking through the burn:
After a few miles, though, I started getting into some shade and it was much nicer, with this view off the left-hand side:
I assume one of those was Mt. Saint Helens (?), not sure what the other peak is but I'm curious to find out.
I also started to get nice views of Mt. Hood, which I would be seeing a lot of the next two days:
Did I mention it was really hot? I had gone through most of my water by this point, so Wy'East Meadow was a blessed relief. I ran into my first fellow hikers there, filled up on water, and enjoyed the relative cool and peaceful vibe for a few minutes before heading on.
From that point on the hike was pretty easy and relatively flat, and I enjoyed the increasingly unobstructed views of Mt. Hood from the trail:
I got to Elk Cove fairly early, about 11am, and managed to score a campsite with a sweet view of the mountain:
I set up camp and explored the area a little...there were quite a few people camping there, but the campsites were dispersed enough that I couldn't see or hear any of them so it wasn't bad. Towards evening a whole troop of Boy Scouts showed up, but they ended up camping a mile or so down towards the Elk Cove trailhead. I had to marvel a little that they were literally running around the trails after hiking up there...ah, the exuberance of youth!
There were a LOT of flying bugs, but they were mostly flies - annoying but non-biting/stinging, at least. I saw a few yellowjackets, but no mosquitos until the next morning at dawn when they came out in force (a few supplemented my breakfast by flying in my mouth while I was packing up camp
)Speaking of dawn, the highlight of the trip was definitely sitting up against a tree, drinking a hot cup of coffee, and watching the sunrise reflect off the snow on Mt. Hood:
On the way back, I saw a few deer not too far from Elk Cove, but they were way too fast to get a picture of...the rest of the hike back was uneventful. I ran into quite a few people headed up the trail so I'm glad I went on Friday morning instead of Saturday. I noticed a lot of the hikers Saturday morning seemed less friendly...but I did chat for a bit with some really nice ladies at Wy'East meadow while I refilled on water - it was their first backpacking trip so I hope they had a good time.
The burn was much more pleasant going downhill than it was on the way up
All in all, this was a really nice hike in spite of the crowds, and I will definitely do it again. I'm thinking about doing it maybe in the early fall (late Sep - early Oct); does anyone know how the roads are that time of year? I drive a Honda Accord, so more than a little snow or ice is pretty much a no-go.