I last hiked this old trail about ten years ago, when horses were still sometimes able to travel it. Since then, trees have come down and accumulated. The trail is still fairly easy to find and all the blowdown not too complicated to work around. When we reached Rush Creek (the same creek that has washed out FR 65 a number of years ago), we saw it was a series of dead pools between beds of jumbled volcanic rock. We crossed over and took up the trail on the south bank, which arrives at some big meadows. Here it meets the route of the old CCT (Cascade Crest Trail).
We followed the CCT north, this route still manifesting its several parallel braids from its heyday before abandonment. Surprisingly, there were still some berries around: oval-leaf blueberry, bog blueberry, and even a small patch of black huckleberry. We passed between Acker Lake and its associated tarn and headed up the slope to Bear Lake, where we had lunch on the peninsula.
Then it was up the PCT to the Placid Lake Trail. Descending that trail to complete the loop, we passed through patches of blowdown, maybe from the 2020 September winds. One saw job interested us, and we puzzled over mechanics of cutting through a certain fir. Before the saw job was complete, it looks like the top ¾ of the tree split off and tipped 20 feet above the trail. I hope no one was hurt!
A little farther, we heard some scuffling at a pair of silver firs and met a most curious creature. It was a little shy at first, but then introduced itself, with a rather thick accent, as Martin (or perhaps Martine).
It was only a few feet above our faces, and spent some minutes turning from one to the other of us, quizzing most curiously about our provenance and intentions. Eventually, bracing itself against both trunks, it performed a couple of Cirque du Soleil-type maneuvers and bowed for applause, which we duly offered. Then it chose the larger tree for a scrabbling ascent to a perch on one of the boughs.
Buoyed by Martin(e) Marten’s extemporaneous exhibitionism, we completed the hike back to Placid Lake and stocked up on caffeine at Stevenson for the drive home.
