Another (quiet) day in Paradise 7/19/2014

[joerunner]

Nice report, Jeff! I think I'll give it a few more weeks, and see if I can hit closer to peak. Good to see where it's at.

I was up there circling the mountain on the same day and I have to say that the Zig Zag was the least treacherous of the notable water crossings that day sans the ones with snow bridges. Lot of water coming off the mountain.

Boy, no kidding! Did we (Crusak and I) cross paths with you below Cooper Spur about 3:20? We met two runners there who'd gone clockwise from Timberline Lodge, and were thinking the Elliot was going to be the worst of what was left to cross. Seemed the Newton was flowing pretty good, though, too, when we crossed it later on.

No I don't thinks so. We were going CCW and crossed Cooper Spur a bit earlier I think. I did talk to those 2 guys at timberline(there were 3 in our group). They finished just a bit after we did.

[kepPNW]

I was up there circling the mountain on the same day and I have to say that the Zig Zag was the least treacherous of the notable water crossings that day sans the ones with snow bridges. Lot of water coming off the mountain.

Boy, no kidding! Did we (Crusak and I) cross paths with you below Cooper Spur about 3:20? We met two runners there who'd gone clockwise from Timberline Lodge, and were thinking the Elliot was going to be the worst of what was left to cross. Seemed the Newton was flowing pretty good, though, too, when we crossed it later on.

No I don't thinks so. We were going CCW and crossed Cooper Spur a bit earlier I think. I did talk to those 2 guys at timberline(there were 3 in our group). They finished just a bit after we did.

You guys always amaze me. No way did they look like they'd already done 2/3 of the loop.

Glad we didn't miss the chance for the secret PH handshake, at least!

[Splintercat]

Thanks, Jeff - nice report and photos!

Some new signage from USFS.

That's a rather spiffy sign -- good to see those going up! I see a lot of confused hikers along that stretch of trail from the lodge to the Zigzag Canyon overlook (not sure why, I suppose the various unsigned spurs). Lots of newbie day hikers from the lodge, I suppose... which might explain a BAREFOOT HIKER up there! I'd hate to see that person's feet after a couple miles of hiking barefoot on volcanic ash..! Yowsa...

Thanks for posting!

Tom