Well, it is early
evening Sunday and I have just gotten out of the
whirlpool. Earlier today I visited my
acupuncturist, my masseuse, and my chiropractor.
I still ache all over, despite all the treatments
and remedies. "Why", you ask?
It's because yesterday I hiked a rugged 10.5
miles roundtrip to Hardesty Mtn. We know
Jane led this hike but we'll have to make this an
honorary Richard hike.
The trail was mildly
steep through thick forest from the trailhead to
the Mt June junction. "Not too
bad" I thought, I'd heard this was a
steep one. I heard right, unfortunately.
From the junction the trail climbed steeply up to
Mt June's summit and did not even pretend to
switchback. We staggered onto the summit and
the former lookout site.
The view was
magnificent and we played the Name That Peak game.
We could see as far south as Mts Thielsen and
Bailey. The Three Sisters were the closest
large peaks. Also noteworthy was
Diamond
Peak
, Mt Jefferson, and Mt Hood was clearly and
unbelievably visible. We also picked out a
number of lesser peaks such as
Tipsoo
Peak
, Broken Hand, Three Fingered Jack,
Mt.
Washington
, Bachelor Butte, Cowhorn Mtn, and
Maiden
Peak
.
We picked our way
down and returned to the trail junction and headed
east on the Sawtooth Ridge Trail. This trail
was typical of many ridge trails as it went up,
then it went down, then it went up, then it
went...you get the idea. There were no views
from the ridge as it was heavily forested until we
broke out into a large brown meadow near Sawtooth
Rock. From a distance the Rock wasn't
too impressive but it got much larger as we got
closer and in the end it was pretty impressive
after all.
We ate lunch there
and explored the back side of the rock where there
was a pair of small caves with rodent poop inside
them. The weather was downright summery and
I switched to shorts and offered my white legs to
the sun gods.
The Hardy Hiking
Bunch continued on and after steeply descending
for a while, we took a right turn on the Hardesty
Way Trail. From there it was a short but
steep climb to the summit of Hardesty Mtn and it
seemed almost too easy. It was. After
a map consult, we discovered just because a trail
has the word "Hardesty" in it, it
doesn't mean it necessarily has its namesake
mountain as a destination. But it would put
us over 10 miles for the day.
So back down we go
to the Sawtooth Ridge Trail. Rheo and Jane
bid us adieu and so our Hardy Hiking Bunch has
dwindled down to myself, Dollie, and Gaoying.
From the trail junction the trail dived steeply
for about a mile or so and we all rightfully
dreaded the return trip. Finally we reached
a saddle and straight ahead of us was a wall...it
was the wooded slope of Hardesty itself. The
trail climbed steeply alongside of Hardesty and
then a second trail peeled off and took us to the
summit.
What a
disappointment. All work and no wow.
There was no view to be had at all, the summit is
all forest. I'm not sure why Hardesty is
such a popular hiking destination. So we
turned around and now all that downhill from
Sawtooth Rock turned out to be all uphill.
Ugh. For some reason, I was tired and
Gaoying and Dollie left me behind as they skipped
gaily uphill.
Back when we were
eating lunch, Geoff had said he would be removing
this hike from his list...I'm with him on that. Well,
back to the Ben-Gay. Enjoy the photos and
for more:
