I got to the trailhead at 11am (the final 9 mile stretch took a good half hour in my non 4wd sedan). There was thin cloud cover. It was cold, but not wet or windy.
Mt. Adams peeking through at the first viewpoint, demonstrated by my hiking companion (and the ultimate photo bomber), Lobo.
We ran into some patches of snow on the way to Grassy Knoll.
So I decided to put on my NEOS overshoes, to keep my leather moccasins dry.
There were lots of mushrooms, but they were all past their prime because of the freeze. A sad chanterelle:
A lot of the trail looked like this:
My goal was to get to the summit by 2, and my reward would be taking the time to make myself a hot cup of tea. I got there at 1:30. Mission accomplished!
Then, back on down we went. There was one person just below the summit, before the junction with the PCT. That was the only human being we saw all day.
The sun started peeking through the cloud cover, making for some lovely scenery:
I got a little lost around Grassy Knoll. It seems I took a shortcut without realizing it, and ended up back at Grassy Knoll. Very disorienting. I had my GPS app but I failed to download the map for this trail. Fortunately, though, I had printed out the map and brought a compass and figured out where I needed to go. It wouldn't have been too hard because there are really only two ways out of Grassy Knoll and I knew which one I had come from, but I'm still wondering how I ended up going in a circle.
By the time I got back to the trailhead at 4, there was a nice sunset:
I went home, ate Thanksgiving leftovers, and took a hot bubble bath. Best Black Friday ever
