Looking From a High Place

Yesterday, Gavin and I hiked to the summit of Mt. Eddy. It ranks as one of my two most strenuous hikes in the last few years: 10 miles and 2500 feet elevation gain, starting at 6700 feet elevation.

We had hiked to Deadfall Lakes a few weeks ago. Some of the pictures I use here will be from that hike.

First, there was the trailhead with a sign marked, appropriately enough, "TRAILHEAD."

Near the trailhead were some photogenic wildflowers.

Here is the beginning of the trail.

A chipmunk posed for me. It helps to have a long optical zoom.

Further on...more wildflowers. I don't know the names of any of them.

The trail again, getting near Deadfall Lakes.

Deadfall Lake #1 (There are four or five of them. We saw four):

Deadfall lake #2:

More wildflowers:

Deadfall lake #3:

Deadfall lake #4:

At Deadfall lakes we had hiked 4.2 miles with a 500 foot elevation gain. Now the trail really began to climb, gaining 2000 feet in elevation in only 0.8 miles to reach the summit.

Here's the trail:

Here's our goal:

As you might expect, there are a lot of switchbacks in this part of the hike. Here is one segment:

I suggested to Gavin that he strike a pose on this rock, and he didn't hesitate:

Then we reached the summit, which is a bit wider than I expected, lots of room to walk around, look around, and take pictures. Unfortunately there was a bit of haze in the air (mostly from a nearby forest fire). This next picture has Mt. Shasta with the top of Black Butte in front of it, but Black Butte is not easy to see.

I tried a few panorama shots. In the first one I turned through about 90 degrees of arc.

In the second and third panoramas I used about 120 degrees of arc.

Here are all four of the Deadfall lakes we passed on the way up.

On the summit there was a shallow pit lined with concrete:

In the hole was a section of ABS pipe with a screw lid:

Inside the pipe was a logbook and a pen. I signed the logbook "Kevin and Gavin Father-Son hike 7/29/17."

Here is Lake Siskiyou from the summit:

We stayed about half an hour walking around, taking pictures, and eating trail mix. Then it was time to return.

Somewhere close to the Deadfall lakes my foot slipped on some loose rocks on the path. I stayed on the path, but could not keep myself from falling down. I did manage to slow my fall (Gavin said it looked like slow motion) but rolled slowly in a couple of different directions. When I got up, I was missing a bit of skin near the tip of one finger (that was bleeding), and there were a couple of smaller abrasions on that hand. Some skin had rolled up on my knees, but no bleeding. So we walked the rest of the way back, about 4 miles. There was a little fall of snowmelt water that crossed the trail, and I washed my hand there.

One more shot of wildflowers on the way back:

And FINALLY one butterfly lit long enough for me to get a picture. There were a lot of butterflies that wouldn't sit still for their portraits; it was just one of those days.

...and that's all, folks!