Just an overnight from Snowgrass into Cispus Basin, camping in the basin and going up to Cispus Pass. It's so wonderful to get to alpine areas with so little effort, as you park so high, relative to most of the mountain roads in our state. The flowers are stupendous, at peak or near peak from 5,000 to 6,500. There are still snow patches in the basin and at the pass, but by the time you read this there won't be any snow on the trail.
Once again I sure wish people didn't bring their dogs into Wilderness areas. There were so many on this hike, and camping in Cispus Basin. You could hear them barking at night and barking at you as you walked on the trail. Can we go nowhere without our domesticated friends? Is there no place wild and free for the critters that have no other refuge?
The weather Saturday was hot and blue. The bugs in the basin were pretty bad, but only partly due to skeeters. The yellow jackets were intense, and though it isn't the season for them to be aggressive yet, they are everywhere and on you. An enormous diversity of insects there, and it's so good to see as we have a global crisis of insect populations crashing due to insecticides.
The trail has a few trees down as crews have not been up yet this year to clear yet. It was great to see so many young people out on the trail. Gives me hope for the future of wild places. There were two spicy ladies in their 70's up at the pass, celebrating being their age and still kicking butt.
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