[fourteen410]

Took the day off to visit Silver Star Mountain (southern WA). What better way to spend the solstice than to hike among the wildflowers? First things first - the 4109 road. It sucks. Big time. I've driven on some of the state's most atrocious roads, and this ranks up in the top 5. You'll need high clearance and 4x4/AWD, and even then, you'll be dancing the salsa in your seat as you navigate huge ruts, sharp rocks, and potholes. Save yourself 5 miles of trouble by taking the L1000 road up instead of 4109 (figured this out on the way down). Now, on to the good stuff. The trail is loaded with an abundance of wildflowers, and they are putting on quite the show right now. If there was ever a hike to compensate for having to sit out last season, this was it. We took Ed's Trail up to the summit and took the Silver Star trail back down. Ed's trail was more scenic and even had a natural arch to walk through. There was one quick scramble spot that I had to boost Pebbles up, but it was otherwise easy going. After tagging the summit, we headed down to the sub-summit for a lazy, hour long lunch. Pebbles kept the bugs at bay by gulping them down before they could come near me. Had a lovely evening walk down to the car. Mother nature put on quite the show tonight with a fiery sunset and some wild thunderstorms to keep me awake on the long drive home. Happy summer hiking season!

[Distel32]

[awilsondc]

Perfect time of year for this one! I did it about this time last year. I had been there before so I just quickly copied the directions from WTA and headed out the door. As I was nearing the trailhead and the road was getting rough I was like I don't quiiiite remember the road being THIS bad! I had written down the 4109 approach directions rather than the L1000 approach I had done before. I agree, one of the worst roads I have been on! The bonus is that the wildflowers from this side are simply stunning, as you can see in your pictures! Not nearly as many flowers on the trail coming from the L1000 road. Great photos!

[GaliWalker]

Beautiful, all around, but this one really makes me miss Washington: