Opening pic
Fantastic day on the mountain Sunday! We set off from Sandy at 8:00 for Vista Ridge, like several other folks we were hoping to see the fantastic displays of Avalanche Lilies reported on last weekend. Driving to Vista ridge always tests my driving tolerance levels which seem to be getting lower with each passing year! It's 50 miles from Sandy but takes about 85 minutes with 2 sections of gravel road totaling about 9 miles.
As we set off up the trail the Bear Grass was putting on a good show.
Two miles up the trail we recognized the photos that were posted of the Avalanche Lilies the week before and they were all past peak bloom & rapidly drying up. We were just about to give up when we were reward at about the 5500' level where the final slopes before reaching the Timberline trail were still in full bloom.
As others have said it was a breathtaking display!
Once we hit the Timberline Trail we decided to head on over to Dollar Lake.
All these years hiking on Hood but it wasn't until yesterday that I noticed that Dollar Lake is in the wrong place of USGS maps.
From here we headed on up the ridge to the base of Barrett Spur, the wind was blowing but it wasn't cold.
The flowers at the base of Barrett Spur were better than I've ever seen them before.
We were sheltered from the wind & soaked up the sun and the views over a lazy lunch!
I was hoping the precarious giant chunk of the Ladd Glacier was going to let loose while we were there but it decided to hold on for a little while longer at least!
Rather than head back down the ridge that would take up back to Dollar Lake we headed down the one that would take us back to the Wyeast Basin.
Back at the Wyeast Basin we stopped for some cold fresh Water!
We then set off back down the Vista Ridge trail took another billion photos of the Avalanche Lilies then headed for home!
The hike came in at 9.3 miles and 3050' of EG.
More photos than you can shake a stick at here & a Map below.
Myself and some friends did Vista ridge and the loop over to Cairn Basin yesterday. We got up there a bit later. Don't think we ran into you though. I tend to keep an eye out for OregonHiker types. We did see quite a few people though.Talked to someone on the trail who goes up there a lot. He said it's usually pretty quiet but the massive flower bloom is pulling the crowds in. Looks like you guys had a great hike. Now I want to go to Barrett Spur! And Mt Hood Meadows and......
