Arch Rock — Friday, Jul. 20, 2018

Lot of Flowers, certainly in excess of 50 species.  Started from the B Parking Lot at Crystal Mountain.  Eventually found my way to the trail to Bullion Basin.  The trail is dusty, but there are still many flowers in bloom, including some nice Columbia Lilies.  At Bullion Basin I took the first spur leaving the trail.  This does ascend to the PCT but eventually it becomes very steep and has loose rocks.  Once on the PCT the going was uphill but spectacular with great views of Mt. Rainier and a cool Pacific breeze blowing on me.  The view of the fire impact on North Fork Union Creek was impressive.  While some of the basin did burn, Basin Lake is still ringed by living forest.  I got to Big Crow Basin quite easily and set up camp near the old shelter.  The shelter is still standing though the roof is no longer functional.  It has examples of interesting backcountry construction techniques, it is also about 100 years old so don't count on it to remain standing.  The next morning I headed out towards Arch Rock to the impacts of the fires last year for myself.  I found that non forested areas did not seem to be impacted by the fires except that in some meadows logs which had laid there for years were completely burned to ashes with plants right next to the log seemingly unaffected by the heat.  There are trees across the trail from time to time,  some can be stepped over or on but others need to be walked around.  The extent of the fires is amazing.  Thousands of acres with 100% trees killed,  small islands of living trees are rare.  There is a lovely meadow at Martinson Gap and the forest here appear unaffected.  But in the meadow to the west of the rock one can see were several logs had been laying and they completely burned.  Beyond the gap the map shows a switchback and from here I got my first view of the upper Greenwater River area (including Corral Pass)  Thousands and thousands of acres with tree mortality at 100%, no suvivors,  there were some island with trees that still had there brown needles on them, but those trees were still dead even though the fire did not even burn the needles.  I also first noticed Thompson's Paintbrush,  (On my way back I noticed colonies above Big Crow Basin, where the PCT enters the drainage of Silver Creek and Directly East of the Bullion Basin.)  Beyond point 6373 there is a half a mile to a full mile of trail in unburned forest.  Past Airplane Meadows the top of the ridge is mostly burned all the way to  Arch Rock.  The ridge top near Arch rock contains some living forest of small trees.  The area covered by a burned tree is usually plant free.  Probably because on smaller plants grew there before the fire.  Lupine is definately the most common and robust returner in these areas and I think huckleberry is starting to come up, though the sprouts were less than 4" tall.  Fireweed was quite rare along the trail visible from less than 1-2% of the length of the trail.  I expect more ground covering plants to be present next year and more the year after.  The forest however was so thoroughly killed that it seems unlikely to even be naturally reseeded in the next few decades.  I did not see any seedlings in the burned areas.  But maybe next year.... 

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