Silver Star, Jun 10th

After my back injury that left inactive for quite a while, it was time for me to hi he trails again so with Mark we decided to the Grouse Vista, Sturgeon Rock loop in Silver Star. The reason I chose that one was because it was the right distance and elevation gain I wanted to try plus the potential good view from the top. Being June, you would expect that, even if it was cloudy, the views from the top of Silver Star would be good. Well, not necessarily – at least not this time. When we met, Carole asked us if we were taking traction devices or other shoes as it was likely we would find snow. We didn’t think so s we didn’t take either. Boy, were we wrong, but I’ll get to that in a bit. From the trailhead, we were navigating inside a cloud with a very soft mist. Visibility didn’t extend very long even though the forecast was indicating we would get clear skies. Wildflowers were blooming like crazy with nice color displays. As we gained elevation the clouds opened just a tiny bit so we could see Pyramid Rock as we passed by it. Not far from there, we started seeing patches of snow on the ground that grew larger as we continued. Eventually we found the trail covered in snow and small branches all over forcing us to go over and around. Snow got deeper but was very compacted so it was slippery. Finally, when we got to the junction that lead to the summit, rain turned into sleet. While we hike up that last stretch, we commented that it looked like we were hiking in the middle of the winter. Once we reached the top, the sleet turned into snowflakes… yes, snowflakes in June! We didn’t stay up there for too long because the wind was hauling and it was cold. On the way down, we took the Sturgeon Rock trail which was mostly covered in snow with a stream running under it. That made navigating a bit difficult as we had to avoid the water and walk on the side of the trail. Eventually we got to the bridge over Rock Creek where we made a quick stop for lunch. By then the rain had stopped and the clouds were showing signs of moving away. We didn’t see blue skies, but we did get two or three seasons in one hike. Not a bad thing

You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

To see the full map, click here