Tom had posted that there was no snow on the Nesmith Trail but it was still amazing to see it in person. There was no snow, at all, the whole way. Last year at this time, this stretch of trail above 2800’ was snowshoe country. Not this year. The trail wasn’t even particularly wet. It was just a little disorienting to be hiking a “July” trail in January.
The sun struggled to break through the clouds as I neared the summit but only got out long enough to illuminate the foreground of this view toward Portland.
This sign has been up here for a LONG time. I suppose one year, given the right amount of saturating rainfall, this sign and the tree to which it’s attached will ride the big mudslide down into the Gorge.
When I first started hiking Nesmith, this facility was upright and intact (and possibly usable if you didn’t mind sitting with lots & lots of spiders). Now it’s fallen on hard times.
Rather than simply retrace my steps, I decided to head straight down the ridge to meet the main trail where it first gains the ridge (at 2800’). There’s a very distinct use trail that starts near the fallen loo, heads down the ridge, and remains distinct for several hundred yards before essentially disappearing. Fortunately there’s very little undergrowth on this part of the ridge and the gradient is fairly shallow, so it’s easy to just keep descending at a heading a little east of north – the cliff immediately to the left is also a check on not wandering off course. It’s about 0.8 mi in a nearly straight line from the outhouse to the main trail. About a ¼ mile before the main trail, the ridge steepens considerably and there’s a bit more undergrowth but nothing serious.
On the way down, the clouds eased-up a bit more and I caught a view to the east of snow-free Table Mountain and of Mt. Adams, with its seasonally appropriate snow cover.
There may be no snow, but it’s still too early for much in the way of flowers or leaves. This lack of cover allowed me to see this tiny mushroom wending its way through the ferns on the forest floor.
The clouds closed in as I approached the car but the rain held off until the drive home. So another good hike done.