Meandering through a meadow in the Indian Heaven Wilderness
a meander through an autumn dry meadow in the Indian Heaven Wilderness
Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Cascade Range, Washington
©2010 Ed Book
A few weeks ago, I was in the Cascade Mountain Range between Mt St Helens and Mt Adams. I spent most of a day in Takh Takh Meadow near the Mt Adams Wilderness. I then went farther south to camp at the Forlorn Lakes and visit the Indian Heaven Wilderness to hike and photograph the Huckleberry bushes up there.
My foot was ailing so I hiked slowly stopping often to make photographs or to just study and meditate on the forest... ('would have done the same had my foot not been an excuse) The trail climbs steadily through a tall mature forest in designated wilderness to meadows and lakes and a winter stunted Subalpine Fir forest. The Indian Heaven Wilderness is a high plateau of lakes and meadows and remnants of ancient volcanic activity-rocky cliffs, high rock outcroppings, and craters.
This area is cloaked in snow for half the year followed by a couple months of mosquito frenzy halted by first frosts which give opportunity to a couple months of conditions conducive to huckleberry gathering, hiking, and autumn photography. My last couple visits there, I missed the peak of color but was gratified by the solitude the first dustings of snow provide. This visit, the color was at peak but weather approaching was to change mountain hospitality to humans. I only had a few hours to explore and find photographic subjects. This meadow hooked me to study the meanderings of the snowmelt streambed, dry, at this point, by our annual Pacific Northwest summer drought. Found meanderings always cause me to linger and meander myself too.
My time in this meadow was shortened by notice of clouds moving through the trees, my signal to move on to the higher lakes before the heavier clouds brought rain again. Another half mile would bring me to Junction Lake and lots of huckleberry color with rapidly moving fog drifting through the trees along the banks. I was able to spend another couple hours before having to retreat back down to civilization. I wish I had the opportunity to have been with others tolerant to my slow ways and weather conducive to camping a few days but I had other places to be and things to do...
A quick visit to the Klickitat Canyon confirmed that the oaks hadn't cloaked in autumn color yet (and be glad I had cancelled plans for a workshop for this time period---more about that later in a 'friends filtered' post... ) I then went back north to The Yurt to help with electrification and then homeward...
Peace