Looking for Alpine Flowers

Killen Creek 6\23\07 6 miles

We don't often get down to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, although it is a beautiful area of Washington that includes the Mt Adams Wilderness. We get an opportunity every year at my family's annual camp out when wee all meet for laughter around the campfire and great camp cooking. This year while trying to avoid the damaged trails we decided to head back to the Killen Creek trail on the NW side of Mt Adams. The ranger at the Colville ranger station said the trails in the area were clear and the road leading down from the Orr Snow Park was open.

We had hiked this trail several years ago in the fall and found the views lovely from the meadows. I figured the meadows would be spectacular with wildflowers and the mountain behind. The ranger said that anything up to 4000 feet would be snow free. Now any look at a map would show that the meadows on the Killen Creek trail are above 4000 feet, but I was being optimistic. After all family camp out is a time of fun and good experiences.

Snow was found underfoot just as the ranger said it would - at 4000 feet. Man was she good. We trammeled over snow for another two mile to the upper meadow. However, the snow wasn't a solid blanket of white, patches of meadow showed through with a few wildflowers poking up. But the clouds had settled in around the mountain obscuring her from view.

Michael & I sat on a log, looking at the flowers brave enough to blossom in the early season, while we had lunch. When the clouds split and gave us the view we had been hoping for. There towering above us were the glaciers of Mt Adams.

One last word, and another reason why I enjoy hiking in the GP, we saw not another face on the trail.