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"Hwy 138 closed...Hwy 138
closed...Hwy 138 closed..."
The sign flashed this bad news
in Glide over and over again.
Apparently on Saturday, the
Rattle Fire woke up and became
belligerent and jumped the
highway, effectively scuttling
our Crater Peak hike.
We have volunteered to lead the
club to Crater Peak 3 times now
and three times we have been
thwarted, once by snow, once by
smoke, and now by fire. At any
rate we were all dressed up and
rather than go home we decided
on Grasshopper Mtn after an
impromptu roadside conference.
We lost a lot of time going to
Glide and back and it was after
11am when we actually started
the hike. The first couple of
miles or so crossed open forest
that had been burnt in the 2002
Tiller Complex Fire(s). There
was a robust undergrowth of
fireweed, so named as it is
virtually the first plant to
grow after a fire. Shortly
after returning to an unburnt
green forest we arrived at
picturesque Buckeye Lake where
some of us ate lunch.
From Buckeye it was a short walk
to Cliff Lake which sat directly
below the imposing cliffs of
Grasshopper Mtn. The geological
story is interesting as
Grasshopper used to be a much
more significant mountain when
half of it broke off in a
massive landslide, damming Fish
Lake Creek and forming Fish Lake
and creating the basin that
currently holds Cliff and
Buckeye Lakes. Of course, none
of this is discernible from the
lakes.
After Cliff Lake, it was a
tedious uphill slog to the
summit of Grasshopper Mtn. At
the summit there were still
green meadows replete with a
stand of 5 foot high purple
delphiniums. From the cliff's
edge the landslide was a lot
more apparent and we had a
birdseye view of the lakes.
Behind us was Highrock Mtn,
Rabbit Ears, Rocky Ridge,
Rattlesnake Mtn, Fish Mtn,
Hershberger Mtn, and parts of
Crater Lake Rim. The views were
not as expansive as they
normally could be as smoke from
the Rattle fire limited the
distance we could see.
After soaking up the views, we
headed downwards to an egress of
Grasshopper Meadow, replete with
namesake grasshoppers. We also
passed through an elk-trampled
meadow at Mosquito Camp which
fortunately was not replete with
its namesake vampires. After
that it was a two mile walk
through green forest as the sun
sank in the late afternoon. And
a good time was had by all
despite our not getting to the
planned destination,
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