[jstern]

Arrived at the north trailhead with only a few cars there. Temperature was a nice 53 degrees when we started, and the clouds were starting to clear. Stayed cool all day. Didn't make the actual ridge due to time constraint, but did stop at the small ridge above Tatoosh Lake, no name but elevation is 6050. Flower show is sublime right now!

Xerophyllum tenax aka Bear Grass

Some nice color here!

Back along the trail

Yellow and white are dominant colors

A bit of red and purple among the yellow

Looking up the ridge

There are only three Beatles?

The trail continues

A bit beyond the junction to this point, the trail starts to deteriorate a bit. There is still one small snow patch to cross, then two snow fingers, which appear to have washed out the trail beneath them. Beyond this, the trail looks as if it may carve away from the hillside during the next heavy rain. It isn't until the next ridge crossing before the trail starts to get better. This was our turnaround point.

Looking back along the trail

Trail is being crowded out by the flowers

Tatoosh Lake

Rainier hiding in the clouds

End of the ridge where we stopped for lunch

The Goat Rocks in the distance

The trail down

Anemone occidentalis aka Western Pasque Flower

Heading back

Rows of color

Bands of color

Groupies

A crowd has gathered

Plenty of green too

More Bear Grass

More color

Another Bear Grass

Where we just came from

We saw a total of 11 people today. Two of whom had spent the night. A good time to get up there for the flowers.

[justpeachy]

Gorgeous!! How is the road to that trailhead? One description I saw somewhere said the road was "heavily rutted."

[jstern]

There are a number of areas where there are some large potholes that are unavoidable, but I think if you take it slow, you shouldn't have too much trouble. A few spots to take note on though. On the way in, we noticed one spot prior to a small concrete bridge where there was a small diameter log poking up from a hole on the left side of the road. Easy to avoid, but shows a nice deep hole. Then, as you cross the small concrete bridge there was another small diameter log poking up from a hole on the other side between the bridge and the road. Another nice sized hole that is avoidable. Hope that helps, and you have a good time up there!