[Elvis]

Thought I'd tag this as the Wild Goose trail rather than have it get lost in the Picture of the Day thread. Thursday afternoon the family was out of town so I thought I'd head up to Artist Point to poke around and come home with some nice sunset pictures. With all the nice weather all summer surely I'd get 'something'. Well, it was cloudy in Bham, but as I reached the turnoff to Hannegan Pass the sun came out and it was beautiful. But... by the time I ended up at Artist Point it wasn't the same.

Sunset

I notice, on my drive between the Hannegan Pass turnoff and Heather Meadows, the evergreens are looking pretty sickly along the highway for the entire 7 miles up the mountain. I'm guessing it's Pine Beetles and it looks significantly different than what I remember from last year. So, with the sunset obviously being a no-show for Artist Point I decided to head back down to Austin Pass, but stopped for some pics of those awesome rock formations right alongside the road.

Awesome Rock Formations along the road to Artist Point

Awesome Rock Formations along the road to Artist Point

Still foggy at Austin Pass, proceeded further down to Heather Meadows and found a trail head for the Wild Goose trail in the overflow parking lot. Ventured down the trail, probably only about 0.10 or 0.20 of a mile from the parking lot, and came to this cool bridge/dam across the beginning of Bagley Creek.

Wild Goose Trail over bagley creek

Ventured down to a huge boulder to take some pictures and noticed a few flaws in the dam structure.

Wild Goose Trail over bagley creek (sepia)

Can you spot the four holes in the dam? No, none of them have water coming through them, but one is blocked by logs on the opposite side of the dam.

So, it was a failed trip for sunsets, but I still managed to see something new. Bugs were only a mild nuisance, but the temps were cool (mid 50's) and I was smart enough to wear pants and fleece. There were clouds of mosquitos along the trail but they mostly left me alone and only saw one or two flies. ~E

[Oarboar]

Clouds or not, I wish I could've gone on this. And would've, if it hadn't been for a pesky test. I'm putting Wild Goose on the list for my next excursion to Mt. Baker.

[jd_hiker]

Nice Elvis, but by my count there are 7 holes.