Silverstar Mountain hike
Took a pretty tough hike from the grouse Vista trailhead up to the top of Silverstar Mountain in southwestern Washington. We stayed overnight next to the FBI at the Holiday Inn express hotel that we like, picked Heather up at 9 o’clock in the morning and drove the hour it took to get up to the trailhead. The trail is very steep in spots and is full of loose rocks that were very hard to negotiate, especially coming down. All of us were getting pretty rubbery legs as we tried to place our feet in the right spots coming down the hill. The weather was good, not hot, but it was a bit hazy. It looked like there were some smoke in the air. This hike looks like it would be really great during wildflower season maybe a month or so earlier than when we did it. There were still some flowers out, but you could see that the bear grass had bloomed and other flowers had gone to seed. About half of the trail is in the shade and about half is out of the open. There is a big fire called the Yacolt burn in 1902 and supposedly that is why there are fewer trees there along with the fact that the soil is very rocky. Views from the top were unrestricted and we could see Mount Saint Helens Mount Rainier Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount Jefferson and what looks like to be 3 Finger Jack Way off in the distance. Really nice perspective being able to see all these mountains further north than where we usually see them. This was my 70th birthday hike!