Huckleberry Mountain, Oct 1st

Huckleberry is always a fun hike with very nice rewards once you get to the saddle. If you have good weather and clear skies, the views can be quite spectacular with Mt Hood at arm’s length and several other cascade peaks in view. If weather does not cooperate, you still get views of the Salmon River valley below. So without much to lose, Val and I picked this hike for a wet and rainy day. Most of the hike is forested so you are always under the canopy of really tall trees. With all the rain we’ve been having though, the forest floor was a mushroom party and the salamanders were happy about it. As we hiked up, we had to take care not to step on the little guys as they crossed the trail or walked along it. About half way up the trail, there’s a turn with an outcrop and a pretty decent viewpoint that looks straight to Zigzag mountain across the valley. From there we could see a thick layer of clouds covering the sky and Mt Hood. We knew we were not going to get the views this time. But still, we continued up enjoying the green and the forest which we had all to ourselves. We made a short stop at the viewpoint in the saddle to eat a sandwich with no views before heading back down the same way – still trying not to step on the Salamanders.

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