Foggy Flats backpacking weekend, Labor Day Weekend

In my search for new places to explore I found a series of trails that travel on the north side of Mt Adams. These trails are not visited as much part because there’s not a lot of information and part because some of them enter the Yakama Indian Reservation which requires special permits that are difficult to obtain. Still, I had my sights on Foggy Flats and Avalanche Meadows. While thinking about it, I noticed that Zach had posted a trip with the group to the north side of Mt Adams which was this exact same trail so I decided to join. The plan was to leisurely head out on Saturday and hike to Foggy Flats to camp, explore on Sunday and then head back out on Monday.

Day 1: Muddy Meadows to Foggy Flats

On our drive to the trailhead, we noticed that weather was looking kind of rainy and on the colder side. We got to the trailhead and just when we started hiking, we felt the first drops of rain. It was just a mist so we decided to just keep on going. From pictures I’ve seen in the past, I knew Mt Adams was right in front of us, but the low clouds were completely obscuring the view. The only thing in front of us was a big meadow and a dark sky. After passing Muddy Meadows, we started our slow climb towards the PCT. The trail in this area is very dense and covered so there are practically now views. We did get a bit lucky with Huckleberries though so we made numerous stops to grab some and eat.

We made a short stop at the PCT junction, part to grab a bite and another because we were right on the dates a lot of PCTers pass by so it’s always nice to see them and give them some trail magic. That day, we saw nobody. From there, we continued our climb towards the Highline trail. The skies looked very menacing and every so often, we would get some rain that would quickly dissipate. Then we got to the junction with the Highline trail and it started pouring. This time it was for real so we had to stop and quickly get our rai gear out. It took no time for our feet to get wet and I was already almost lamenting a bad call on my part regarding gear. I was wearing the kilt which can be the best or the worst depending on conditions. We pushed on with the rain hammering on us up until we got to Foggy Flats. The rain had stopped but everything was soaked, including a potential campsite with great views of the mountain. We dropped our packs and started wondering around looking for sites and finally, after a while, we spread out and set up our tents. I decided to set up by the open meadow with direct view of the mountain. One of the plans I had was to take pictures overnight so I needed a good spot. After that we did all of our camp chores and had dinner. The wind picked up later that evening making the temperature drop abruptly. It got really cold so we all hit the bed relatively early.

Day 2: Devils Gardens exploration

On Sunday we woke up to a bright, sunny and very windy day. Clouds were moving incredibly fast above us so it was difficult to know what the weather was going to be like for the rest of the day. After breakfast, we grabbed our day gear and continued on the Highline Trail. Little did we know that only a couple of minutes later we would find plenty of dry and much better campsites than the ones we picked. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t know. The other incredible thing was that we left the forest behind and entered open semi-arid meadows. I was completely different scenery. The trail crossed several affluent of the Muddy Fork which at times can be tricky.

We got lucky that water was not too high and crossing was a breeze. After the last crossing we got the first views of Red Butte towards the East and the mountain in front of us. It was an image out of this world. It really looked like we were on another planet. WE followed the trail as it meandered thru the lava fields skirting the mountain. At a certain point, when Red Butte was almost directly south of us, we saw a small group of people on the ridge signaling to us to go over. That was right before reaching the Yakama Reservation boundary. Checking the map, we noticed that we were just south of the Devils Gardens, so we left the trail behind and started going off-trail. Once we reached the ridge, we saw the expansive area in front of us and understood why it’s called Devils Gardens. The whole area is completely desolated, there’s practically no vegetation and the only thing you can see, besides Mt Adams, is volcanic rocks that seem like the exploded from underneath and were frozen in the act.

As we hiked closer, we passed several of these formations and you could also see them moving as they were taking shape, not in a slow way though. The literally looked like someone had stopped time as they were moving. WE continued towards the mountain aiming for a ridge right in front of Lyman Glacier. Once there, we went up a bit to catch some better views of the mountain but by then the wind was howling. We saw very dark clouds coming around the mountain. As minutes went by, the mountain disappeared and reappeared in front of us several times. We decided it was time to stat heading back. We followed the ridge going down trying to cover ourselves from the wind until we reached the Highline Trail again. From there, we retraced our steps back to camp keeping our fingers crossed that it would not rain on us. It didn’t. And despite very dark and heavy clouds moving quickly above us, we got not even a drop of water that night. That evening, while I ate, I did a time lapse video of the fast moving clouds. I also tried taking pictures of stars for the first time.

   
Day 3: Foggy Flats to Muddy Meadows 
   
Monday was even a better day, dry, crisp blue sky and less wind than the previous days. We took our time to have breakfast, pack out gear and hike back down retracing the step we had taken on Saturday. The trail was the same with limited views but now we were able to see Mt Adams from the meadow near the trailhead and on the drive back. It was a glorious short day as we were already on our way home Interactive map To see the full map, click Menu and select Full Screen. You can also click Terrain to change the map style