Mt Adams North

[drm]

Yeah, it's August and it's smoky but this was my shot for this year. The snow melted early and most of the bugs were already past. Two night solo trip into the Mt Adams alpine. I started at the Muddy Meadows trailhead like normal, heading up.

Always got to get a pic of the Killen Creek cascade


High Camp and a very hazy Mt Adams behind


But I did get a really nice camp, about 6900 feet. A chipmunk lived in the rock wall on the left side but left my food alone.


Heading up to the glacier lake over low angle snowfields


And the lake, at about 7500 feet


Hardy life near the lake


Later that evening, goats! Needed all of my 40X zoom to get this, the goats do not let you get close. They were probably 200 yards away


Still hazy the next morning


Heading east, Foggy Flats getting brown, this would usually be the greenest time of summer


After setting up camp by noon and eating and taking a rest, I headed up for Devils Garden. The east fork of Muddy Forks is often hard to find a way to cross without wading. Despite how it looks here, I did find a way, with only a dab of water on the boots. About 6900 feet.


Approaching Devils Gardens at about 7400 feet. Despite the glare of the sun, the sky is blue, the air is starting to clear


The Devils Garden area, about 7800 feet. Lots of wandering is possible here.


Back at camp, since I expect to return to this camp for years to come, I decided to start monitoring the growth of these trees


The next morning I awoke to mostly clear skies! Good timing and good place for it. When I made it back to my car about noon, I couldn't see Adams at all from down there

[Chip Down]

Lovely tarn. And just slightly out of mosquito range, in my experience.

True that goats avoid humans, but I have accidentally surprised a couple, with humorous results.

[teachpdx]

The Foggy Flat/Devils Garden area is one of my favorite spots on Mt. Adams. It's gorgeous and also super remote, glad that you got to see the area!
There was a trip report posted awhile back (but I can't find it now) that mentioned a tarn due south of Foggy Flat at around 7000' (46.248579, -121.488827). My goal is to get up there this season to check it out, hopefully once all the mozzies have passed.

[ppendhar]

Dean,
I am planning an overnight at Foggy Flats this weekend. Do you happen to have gps from your hike?

[drm]

Trails go to Foggy Flats so no I don't have GPS. There is a rough unmaintained trail that starts you off to that tarn, which I call S&J Lake (after Sean and Joie, Sean made that trip report you were looking for). It leaves the Foggy Flats meadow from the right side, look closely for it. It will peter out before the tarn but hopefully will get you above most of the bushwhacking and into a canyon that kind of takes you there.

I wonder if the lake above High Camp is really above mosquitoes in the peak season, since the worst mosquitoes I ever had on Adams was at High Camp. But their peak is well past now, though there were still some around Foggy Flats when I was there.

[Chip Down]

I wonder if the lake above High Camp is really above mosquitoes in the peak season, since the worst mosquitoes I ever had on Adams was at High Camp. But their peak is well past now, though there were still some around Foggy Flats when I was there.

I may have only been there once in mosquito season, but what I can attest to is that they were thick and hungry at high camp, but as soon as I got on the snow leading to the lake, they didn't follow. It wasn't substantially higher, and it wasn't windy. I've always wondered if it was the big open expanse of snow that deterred them. I know they don't have an aversion to snow, but perhaps when it's a huge unvegetated expanse, they "know" there's little point in foraging out there.