Coasties: Day Three
The view at the lower elevations of Cascade Head are close ups - this flower or that mushroom. Yes, it’s the day after Thanksgiving, and our hike included wildflowers. Welcome to Oregon.
There is a treeline, but it’s not the 6,000ft mark like on Mt Hood. The trees just stop and a prairie opens up, and the trail gets steeper. Trail geeks that we are, we calculated the 2 mile trail that climbed 1100 ft was an overall 10% grade . . . but the lower reaches were pretty mild. On the plus side, the view was spectacular. The Salmon River stretches back into a yellow-marshgrass estuary, and the Pacific fades off into the heavy clouds.
We reached a saddle and saw the hidden haystacks, then kept climbing up the switchbacks, finally stopping way above, well, everything. The sky was still overcast, and the dark sea disappeared at the horizon on three sides.
On the way back down, we saw a small herd of elk, but they moved to quickly for photography.