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Last April, Ray and I hiked to
Pilot Rock in snowshoes. We navigated by
looking at the rock and surrounding peaks as
any existant trail was well hidden underneath
the snow. But curiosity remained as to what
the trail actually looked like so when we had
to change our destination from Cougar Butte
due to hunting season opening, it seemed an
opportune time to revisit Pilot Rock.
Because of the weather, I
figured I might be hiking by myself as rain,
lots of it, was in the forecast. But there
was 10 of us beginning the hike
under threatening gray clouds.
The first portion of the
Pacific Crest Trail meandered though woods and
brown meadows, climbing gradually to a bench
below a radio tower. It wasn't raining but
our legs were wet as we knocked water off of
the surrounding vegetation as we passed by.
At a crest about 2 miles into the hike, we
were rewarded with vistas of the valley
containing Hilt (CA) and of Pilot Rock itself,
still kind of far away. The vegetation was
tres eastern Oregon with rabbitbrush in bloom
and jumipers growing on the exposed slopes.
The PCT countoured around a
slope to a dramatic view of Pilot Rock lording
over a dry grassy hillside. Wild strawberry
leaves were turning red in the grass, autumn
is just about here. The trail then headed
away from Pilot Rock for a little bit causing
everyone to wait for me, disconcerted. But a
left turn brought us to the Pilot Rock TH.
Actually you can drive a car here and hike
less than a half mile to the rock, but where
is the glory in that?
From the TH, the trail got icky
steep and with lots of groaning, we ended up
at the base of the rock where we all sat down
to eat lunch. There was some talk of maybe
climbing up to the rock or maybe going up a
little bit further "just to see". But Mother
Nature took care of things in the guise of a
bitterly cold howling wind with sleet and
rain. The temperature felt like it dropped
nearly 10 degrees within minutes and it really
felt like it could snow. The conditions sent
us all delving into our packs for our weather
accessories and we hightailed it away from the
rock.
Once off the rock, the weather
was more stable although the rain and cold
continued for a while. On the south slopes we
were buffeted by wind and rain but once we
entered the woods, it was just occasionally
wet. At one point the clouds dissipated, the
skies were blue, and the sun warmed our very
souls. But only for a minute or two.
I figured the distance to be
around 9.2 miles but the pedometer toting
crowd said it was more like 9.7. Despite the
(at times) harsh conditions, the hike was
eminently enjoyable and worthy of a repeat
visit. For more pictures see:
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