The most exciting moment of today's hike was seeing two bears (looked like a mama bear and her cub) run across the road. We were heading home and about three miles from where NF-6808 becomes Bear Creek Rd (where the pavement begins). Even with all of their heft, they were FAST! Though it would have been cool to see them up-close, I felt safer in my truck since Max acted as though he wanted to chase them.
Max focused on a raven taunting him from the sky
There was only one small patch of snow left to traverse on the trail up to Grassy Knoll. But there is still lots of slushy snow covering the trail to Big Huckleberry Mtn. We turned back after a few hundred yards since the clouds were obscuring most of the vistas today and we decided it wouldn't be worth the soggy boots. Mt. Adams did emerge briefly. Mt. Hood hid behind the clouds the entire time.
Lots of wildflowers out: paintbrush, spring beauty, larkspur, columbia kittentail, trillium, glacier lily, dutchman's breeches, and others that I couldn't ID. Along NF-6808 at lower elevations, lupine and balsamroot are peaking.
glacier lily amongst the spring beauty
dutchman's breeches
Columbia kittentails
When we returned to the TH, there were seven vehicles parked. Trail traffic was very busy for this time of year, especially considering the wildflower display is just starting and weather was not ideal for mountain views.
Road warning: We drove home via WA-14 and had to wait several light sequences to get through construction site that is now a single lane near Cape Horn. It added around 15 minutes to the driving time.
