Adventure time again.
Up over the North Cascades highway to the sleepy town of Mazama, and on up to Harts Pass for an overnighter.
My plan was to hike some of the PCT, do some star gazing/photography since the Perseid meteor shower was in process and mountain bike some roads.
Tunnel time, just prior to a couple favorite lakes
Headed into Eastern Washington just after 5477' Washington Pass, mile post 164 I believe
Home away from home. Only 6 campsites-1st come, 1st served. $8 a night
Slate Peak lookout 7440'. Washington state's 2nd highest lookout located at the end of the state's highest road.
Department of Defense took over the site in 1956 and blew off the top 40' of mountain top for a radar station that was never built... forest service got it back and built the current lookout on top of a 40' tower. The floor of the lookout is the same elevation as the original peak was.
Pasaytens, North Cascades and and Canadian peaks abound
Twilight time
True mountain biking... up hills at 6k suck, downhills are the payback
Only ran into this tree once
View from my campsite, impacts from a 95,000 acre wildfire back in 2017 are obvious all through this valley
Milky way anyone?
Saturn and Jupiter are the two brightest bodies
I did see a few meteors, none while I was capturing images though, did catch a satellite with 30 second exposure pushing 8000 ISO at F5.6
I need to go back, tons of great trails and the most intact PNW mining ghost town of Barron is within 5 miles of the campground.
I spoke with the Ranger and found out how to contact the property owners... never a good idea to surprise armed miners on their property.
Mornings in the mountains are always sublime... it was 72 ish during the day and 44 at night. The radiant heat from the sun is deceiving, I rode the bike next morning in just a tee shirt and felt fine.- thermometer said 63 degrees