One takes the PCT S from the TH through some open meadows that still had lots of fresh flowers - it's a mile high here and the season was just starting.
Some of the original forest is still intact and festooned with an amazing variety of lichens and mosses. It was too warm for the snow to stay stuck to the trees, so it was essentially "raining" as we walked through the forest.
A late season trillium tormented by "Spring" snow.
The LO on the summit dates from 1933, but is completely surrounded by a host of 21st Century electronic wizardry.
We'd hoped for the iconic view of Mt. Shasta from the LO but the clouds weren't giving us any help with that.
We could barely make out Ashland to the N.
Then the clouds closed in yet again and we were off back to the TH and then to the Standing Stone Brewpub in Ashland - to warm-up with "medicinal" libations.
We were afforded one teasing glimpse of Pilot Rock on the way down. But we'll be back!
4.2 mi RT, 810' EG, 36F on the summit.
The loved one wanted me to add our sighting of a green-tailed towhee foraging on the road just below the LO.
We'd never seen this kind of towhee before, mainly because Ashland is near the northern edge of its breeding range and it's not found in the Gorge. Why it's not the "rufous-headed towhee" isn't obvious?
Looks like a great area to explore, and we'll be in the Ashland area for part of our early summer vacation. I knew we wanted to go on the PCT, but didn't know about Soda Mt. Wilderness. 
