[kitya]

After enjoying Glacier peak area twice in a row recently (painted/red + ruby lake and gamma peak), i thought i would want to try something short and *completely* different. So instead of going north, me and Cookie drove south. South is rare for us. South cascades are less dramatic and interesting than north. it is very hot. except for goat rocks and other major volcanoes, there is no permanent snow I know of and Cookie needs snow to roll. But once in a while it is interesting to checkout different places too. I drove to the end of forest road 1382, just off white pass. the road is in good condition, except for the last rocky park i choose to walk that last part. no forest pass required. no other cars at the trailhead. it was super hot (my garmin backpack thermometer recorded 106F at peak) and miserable on open slopes in the sun. Cookie refused to walk and got a ride on my shoulders half of the way. She farts

There are lots of confusing trails and lots of blowdowns. Many trails look kind of abandoned. An intersection of 3 trails was marked by this very helpful sign.

There is almost no water, but at least it is shady in the forest. So this was nice. We first hiked to Shellrock and enjoyed the amazing columns. There is like half a mile of them.

The summit itself is littered with this crap

We saw a hawk. Is it Cooper's hawk?

And a ground squirrel.

Interesting technique - she made the incision in the cone and hollowed it out.

From Shellrock we got confused by the trail that leads to a small lake, but eventually got back to the main trail and continued to the Burnt mountain. Burnt Mountain is not actually burnt, it is burnt in color. It is super open and was most hot. We saw a distant forest fire from Burnt. Chikamin?

On the way back we also scrambled to the top of Ironstone mountain. Unlike Burnt and Shellrock there is a fancy register on the Ironstone. Also more fancy columns

It was a short, but hot day. Only 17 miles, 6000 ft gain for 3 mountains plus random wondering when lost No other humans seen. Perhaps this is a great area to explore when weather cools down later in autumn or during winter.

[John Morrow]

That fire is likely the Jungle Fire up the Little Naches just off of Hwy410. Actually, I take that back. It seemed far to the east and after some research I see that there is a new fire toward Naches called the Evans Creek Fire.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Those columns are cool! I had to do a double take on a few of the photos, looks like the ruined remains of an old castle somewhere in Europe!

[kitya]

[RichP]

The William O is a fine place to explore. Hoping to get in a trip to Arnesons this year when the skeeters die out myself.

[kitya]

[John Morrow]

[kitya]

[MangyMarmot]

Cool trip. The columns look really interesting. Great photos.

[Brushbuffalo]

[kitya]

[Brushbuffalo]

[kitya]